


The Journey of Joy

by thewriter



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2017-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-30 20:36:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 22,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8548309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewriter/pseuds/thewriter
Summary: A disabled Pokémon trainer, Joy begins her journey. Along the way she encounters many joys and challenges as she struggles to prove she has what it takes to be the best.





	1. Leaving Home

Pallet Town

Joy woke up that morning with the sun streaming through her window. Down the hall from her room her little brother was already up, the music from his video games blaring through the house. Groaning, she pulled a pillow over her head. She was about to turn over and try (try being the key word) to go back to sleep when there was a wrap on her door.

She looked over the covers to see her mother standing in the doorway.

Her mother was a slender woman with reddish hair, who wore her age well, one would not guess she had two children or ones so close to starting their own Pokémon journeys.

"Honey you have to get up, don't you remember your due at Prof. Oak' s lab by 9 AM.

Joy groaned again, she had completely forgotten.

"Why can't he schedule the pickup later." She muttered as she sat up. Her room was reasonably tidy, except for a few clothes on the floor, a stray sock and her wheelchair in the corner, nothing was amiss.

"Get dressed, Joy," her mother said calmly, "I'll have breakfast ready shortly." Then she left the room; in the distance Joy could hear her calling to her 8-year-old brother Mark to "turn off his video games". Shaking her head Joy slid out of bed and began her day.

 

The scene at breakfast was about what she expected, bacon, eggs, toast and cereal. Joy grabbed a little bit of everything and she moved around the kitchen finally stopping at her special spot after the table.

"You excited about getting your first Pokémon today?" Mark asked.

He was already had a bowl of cereal in front of him. HIs dark hair, like their father, bouncing as he did so. Joy had that dark hair too, but her features favored her mother though one looking at her knew she was her father's daughter. Mark, his dark hair currently streaked with turquoise, plowed into his cereal. Joy surmised he was more excited about today than she was.

Joy shrugged in response as she poured milk on her own cereal.

"I would totally get a Squirtle if it were me!" Mark continued excitedly, "I can't wait to start my journey!"

"One of my children leaving home is quite enough, thank you." Her mother countered, "You'll have your chance, but that's three years away."

"You're going with the fire type, aren't you?" Mark asked.

"Uh huh." Joy replied as she took a bite of bacon. "You know Charmander is my favorite."

"Who doesn't know?" Mark asked, "Everybody in town knows you have a thing for fire Pokémon."

"They're just cooler." Joy replied succinctly.

"Whatever." Mark replied as he dug into his cereal once more.

"Now, I packed you everything you will need and don't forget to stop at the stores in town if you need anything else."

Joy nodded as she finished her breakfast.

"I know mom." She replied.

"Sasha will be meeting you soon, I just called her mother last night; everyone is ready to go."\

Joy only knew her mother was sending Sasha, who had begun her Pokémon journey a year ago, with her so she had someone who could help her as she traveled. It was going to be completely different being in a different location every day and spending the night at a Pokémon Center.

"Got it!" Joy replied. "Now all I have to do is pick up my Pokémon from Prof. Oak."

 

A short time later Joy was ready to leave.

"Later, brat!" She said to Mark, who only replied by sticking his tongue out at her.

All of her supplies was secured to the back of her wheelchair. Anything else she would need she and Sasha could pick up in Viridian City. Sasha was 12 a little over a year older than Joy who was 10 and 8 months; she would be 11 soon. From the end of the path outside the house Joy could see Sasha waving. That was her cue. She said one last goodbye to her mother and headed down the path, her gloved hands skimming over her wheels.

"What took you so long?" Sasha demanded, her green streaked hair windswept and tousled.

"Slept in." Joy replied.

"Even Wartortle it is faster than you!" She glanced down at her Pokémon which was at her feet. The small turtle looked up at her with what Joy imagined was a nonplussed expression.

"War." It replied, then looking at Joy, "War, war!"

"Come on," Sasha muttered, "let's go."

 

The journey to Prof. Oak's lab wasn't that far. He lived just down the road and even off in the distance Joy could see the windmill that was the trademark of his residence.

Still chatting, they made their way up the long winding drive towards the front of the lab. As they stepped inside Prof. Oak looked up, apparently he had been waiting for them.

"Good morning, Sasha, Joy. I imagine your most anxious to select your Pokémon."

Joy nodded.

"Yes sir!"

"Excellent!" Prof. Oak replied. He glanced over at Sasha as he spoke. "Ah, Sasha, I see your Squirtle has evolved into a Wartortle… Very nice. It looks very healthy."

Sasha beamed.

"Thank you sir!"

"Now then. Joy, which Pokémon do you choose?"

"Charmander!" Joy replied instantly. "I've always wanted one!"

Prof. Oak chuckled.

"Very well. Your mother tells me you have a fondness for fire Pokémon, they are quite energetic, but good companions nonetheless." He handed her a Poke ball. "It's all yours."

"Okay, Charmander." Joy instructed, "Come on out!"

There was a bright flash of red light and a small lizardlike creature materialized on the lab floor. It had small sharp teeth and a flame on the end of its tail.

"Char?" It questioned. "char, char!"

"Quite a chatty little fellow this one," Prof. Oak said fondly, " I think he wants to say hello."

Without much trouble Charmander hopped onto her lap and curled up like a small, warm dog.

"As you can see, it also likes to snuggle; when not confined to its Poke ball of course. Well you better get going," Prof. Oak encouraged, "those Pokémon and badges are going to catch and earn themselves!" Prof. Oak said cheerfully.

"Right then." Joy said with a smile. "You heard the guy, it's time to go. Charmander, return." Once again the little creature disappeared in a stream red light. As they exited Prof. Oak's lab Joy could scarcely believe it, her Pokémon journey had finally begun! She couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next.


	2. First Catch

"You better call your mom." Sasha advised when they stopped at the Pokémon Center in Viridian City.

"I only left home a few hours ago," Joy exclaimed, "can't we wait until we get to Pewter City?"

"You could," Sasha considered, "but it's best if you reassure her you're not dead in a ditch somewhere."

Joy rolled her eyes and she began maneuvering her wheelchair towards the videophones at the far side of the room.

"Yeah, like you, Charmander and Wartortle would let that happen." Reluctantly, she punched in her home phone number.

Her mother answered on the second ring.

"Oh honey, glad you're safe. Where are you?"

"Viridian City." Joy answered, "We're going to try to make it to Pewter City before it gets dark."

On the video monitor her mother looked worried.

"Okay, but be careful. I love you."

"Love you too mom, bye."

 

Once their Pokémon were rested and they had picked up a few supplies Joy and Sasha made their way north towards Viridian Forest. This was the one part of their trip Joy was worried about most because going through a forest in a wheelchair probably wasn't the smartest thing, but what choice did she have.

"Just let me know if you need any help." Sasha said as they entered the woods.

"Sure. No problem." Joy replied.

They hadn't gone far when Joy saw a Pidgey in the bushes. She knew what it was, but she pulled out her Pokedex anyway.

"I'm going to catch it." Joy said with a grin, "Then we can start building our team. Come on out Charmander!"

Something was different when Charmander came out of its Poke Ball, instead of climbing up in her lap it stayed by her feet, it seemed to know she wanted to battle.

"Charmander, Scratch!" She commanded.

The small lizard flashed its claws knocking the small bird sideways, it ruffled its feathers and made an irritated noise. It flapped its wings creating small gusts.

Joy gave the command again, and again and after 4 times, the bird was significantly weaker.

"You better catch it now," Sasha advised.

"Right." Joy muttered, taking out one of the Poke Balls from the bag on the side of her chair. She clicked the ball to enlarge it.

"Poke Ball, go!"

Just like Charmander, the Pidgey disappeared in a stream of red light and as the Poke Ball closed it wiggled several times as if the creature inside were trying to break free, but after a few seconds it gave a satisfying click.

Joy let out a long breath as Sasha reached to pick up the Poke Ball.

"All right, I got it!" Joy exclaimed as Sasha handed the ball to her.

"Come on, there's more things in here than just Pidgey," Sasha muttered glancing over her shoulder, " we want to get out of here before it gets dark."

"Yeah," Joy agreed, "come on, let's go."

As they made their way through the forest, Joy talked about the Pokémon she wanted to catch. In the few hours they had been walking she had added a Rattata to her team, she hoped it would be a strong Pokémon.

"I really want to catch a Caterpie so I can evolve it into a Butterfree. It has attacks that are strong against rock type Pokémon. That's the first gym right?"

Sasha nodded.

"Brock. He's tough, but he's fair. His family runs the gym when he's traveling."

They fell into silence again and were just coming into another clearing when Sasha pointed.

"I think you're in luck."

There, on a nearby branch, was a small bug Pokémon, it looked up at the sound of their voice.

"Come on out Charmander!" Joy said, "I need your help one more time."

Joy knew Caterpie weren't the strongest Pokémon, particularly in their pre-evolved state. So far the Pokémon she had caught had been easy to capture, but she knew there were many more that would be much more difficult. Within several minutes, Caterpie had been caught and Joy looked down at the Poke Ball beaming.

"You'll make an excellent Butterfree." She told it. "All we need is a little work, right Charmander?"

"Char, Char!" It agreed.

"Come on, let's get out of here before we wake up the Beedrill over there." Sasha muttered in a low tone, "and let's try not to step on any more Weedle, or I'm going to need a Pokémon Center!"


	3. Team Training

They were just heading out of the forest when Joy saw it. As she navigated her wheelchair around protruding tree roots she saw a Pikachu sleeping nearby. She had wanted one ever since she had been old enough to know what a Pokémon was. They were the Pokémon the children always had as toys, but she knew it was trained properly they could become powerful battling partners.

"Sasha look," this time it was Joy who pointed out the wild Pokémon.

"You going to catch it?" Sasha asked.

"You bet." Joy replied as she reached for her next Poke Ball, she had a little less than a dozen in her bag, since she had picked up a few more at the Poke Mart.

As they approached, the Pikachu awoke and looked at them with large dark eyes.

"Pika…Pi?" It seemed to be assessing the situation, but within minutes it knew what she wanted; having seen the ball in her hand.

"Pika...chu!" Sparks began to fly from its cheeks, it was ready to battle.

Joy knew she had no good options against this Pokémon, most of her Pokémon were weak from battling and Charmander was her strongest on her team, but even it was worn down by now.

"Charmander, come on out!" She called and she threw a Poke Ball. "Charmander, ember!" She commanded.

The small lizard blew a stream of small sparks from its mouth. The Pikachu flinched, but it kept coming, it's cheeks still sparking. Then bolts of lightning flew from its small body. Charmander took the hit, shuddered, but after a few minutes got back on its feet, though Joy could tell it had been weakened.

"Come on buddy, one more shot." She murmured.

"Char!" The small Pokémon replied.

This time Joy knew she had it, grinning, she threw the Poke Ball. The ball jiggled several times before it clicked, Joy was surprised the Pokémon hadn't broken out, but she also knew the Pikachu was weakened from their battle.

"Come on," Sasha murmured as Joy put her Poke Balls back in her bag, "let's get to the Pokémon Center I think our Pokémon could all use some rest and Charmander and that Pikachu needs some medical attention."

Joy nodded, she knew Sasha was right.

"Let's go, Pewter City isn't that far."

 

They arrived in Pewter City a short while later. The sandwiches and water they had both had earlier had long since worn off and if they were hungry so were their Pokémon.

"I'll take care of your Pokémon right away." Nurse Joy said with a smile, the small redheaded nurse bustled around the large center efficiently; and Joy could tell she meant business.

They were just sitting down to eat when Nurse Joy returned.

"Everyone is all better, though I'm keeping your Pikachu for some observation; it may need another day to recover or so."

"Can I see it?" Joy asked.

"Absolutely." Nurse Joy replied, "Whenever you're ready."

While the girls ate, they let their Pokémon out of their Poke Balls so they could eat too, the center was well supplied with the best Pokémon food available. Aside from Joy's newly caught Pokémon, Rattata, Pidgey, and Caterpie, Sasha had a few of her own Pokémon: her Wartortle, a Sandslash and a Fearow; though Joy knew she had caught many more on her journey the year before.

"Eat up guys we got a lot battling and training to do." Joy told her team. She watched them for several minutes as they chowed down; she still had to make time to visit Pikachu before she and Sasha went back to their training.

 

While there Pokémon finished eating, Joy went to visit Pikachu. It was in it was in the medical ward in a small open incubator with electrodes on its electrical sacs. In between the rows of incubators, Joy carefully made her way to Pikachu. When it heard the sound of her wheels it opened its eyes.

"Pika?" It murmured weakly. Joy reached out to scratch it behind the ears.

"Hey buddy, you doing okay?"

"Pika…chu." It replied quietly.

"Sorry if Charmander gave you a rough time, my team and I…we need a little more practice." Joy chuckled softly.

"Chu…" Pikachu murmured.

"You rest up…" Joy whispered smiling, "my little spark plug."

"Pikachu!" The Pokémon replied.

"You like that name, huh?" Joy asked as she scratched the small Pokémon behind the ears again.

"Pik-a-chu." It replied firmly. Joy wasn't sure but she thought Sparkplug was smiling.

 

Sasha and Joy spent the rest of the afternoon training behind the Pokémon center. Their team, minus Sparkplug, took turns practicing their moves. When they both got tired of battling each other they, walked to the outskirts of the city in search of trainers. The other trainers weren't that hard to find and they gave both girls plenty of experience. For the first time Joy's Pokémon had a chance to figure out how they battled best.

Joy used Rattata, Pidgey and Charmander to battle most of the trainers though, Caterpie was slowly gaining experience; she hoped it would evolve into a Metapod soon.

It was getting dark when the girls finally returned to the Pokémon Center.

"I think you surprised that last guy we battled; you actually knocked out his Kakuna in one hit!" Sasha said gleefully.

"A Kakuna is a Kakuna." Joy replied, "Though Pidgey got some good experience battling those Weedle; it's speed has improved and I just caught it this morning!"

"Only because it gained a lot of experience battling Wartortle." Sasha replied, "Wartortle is no wimp!"

Joy grinned.

"Sure whatever you say."

 

Before she turned in for the night, courtesy of the trainer rooms at the Pokémon Center, Joy visited Sparkplug one more time.

"I got some training done today." He told the sleeping Pokémon. "If Nurse Joy says it's okay tomorrow you can join us. We all have to be ready for our first gym battle."

Joy knew she had a lot of work ahead of her and there were still many things she had to do and learn before she took on the Pewter City gym leader and earned her first badge. After a long day, she finally climbed into bed on the lower bunk and it was only then she realized how tired she truly was. She'd been in her chair all day and it was nice to be able to stretch out. Sasha, had only grumbled a little bit about helping her get ready, but the girls had been friends since they were 5 so Sasha had been around her enough to know what she needed.

"You're more work than the Pokémon." She grumbled good-naturedly as Joy sat on the edge of her bunk.

"You know you love me." Joy teased, "or we wouldn't still be frie  
"Only because Sandslash has had a soft spot for you ever since we returned to Pallet last year." Sasha replied.

Laughing, Joy threw a pillow at her friend.


	4. Rock On!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few notes on the chronology of this story:
> 
> This story takes place in 2016 and I have aged the characters accordingly so Ash is 20 or 21, Misty is 23 or 24 and Brock is in his early to mid thirties. My characters Sasha and Joy are 11 and 12.

The following morning, Joy continued her training at the Pokémon Center. Today, Sparkplug was joining them and was currently battling Sasha's Wartortle.

"Come on, he's got the type advantage!" Joy called from the end of the battlefield.

"Yeah," Sasha agreed, "but Wartortle is stronger."

Just as she spoke Sparkplug darted across the battlefield and slammed into Wartortle.

"Whoa!" Sasha exclaimed, "Did it just learn quick attack?"

Joy shrugged.

"Guess so. Alright Sparkplug, let's finish this up with thunderbolt!"

Sparkplug let loose a barrage of electricity from its body which caught Wartortle and knocked it off balance. When the attack had cleared Sasha's Pokémon had fainted.

"Alright, that's enough, Wartortle return." Sasha called back her Pokémon. "Let's try something else, Fearow, I choose you!"

"Sparkplug, return." Joy called. She withdrew another poke ball from her bag. "Caterpie, come on out!"

"I have the advantage." Sasha called.

"Yeah we'll see." Joy called, "Caterpie string shot!" The small bug shot a string -like substance from its mouth immobilizing the large bird.

"Fearow, growl." Sasha called.

"Caterpie, tackle!"

Caterpie slammed into the bird, which already immobilized got knocked further off balance. "Right, Caterpie, tackle, one more time!" Joy called.

Just as Sasha was about to call her next attack Caterpie began to glow. It seemed immobilized.

"What's going on?" Joy asked.

"It's getting ready to evolve!" Sasha murmured in an awed whisper

Several seconds later and oddly shaped heavy looking shell had encased Caterpie. Just to check, Joy pulled out her Pokédex.

She already knew what the entry said, but it was good just to have the information registered.

"Metapod…" She murmured, "cool."

"Are we going to finish our battle or not?" Sasha demanded.

"Right, yeah." Joy stammered. "Okay, Metapod, harden!"

"Fearow, fury attack!" Sasha called.

Fearow landed repetitive hard attacks on Metapod, but it seemed like it hadn't felt a thing.

"Metapod, harden!" Joy commanded again,

"Where you going with this?" Sasha called, "Fearow, wing attack!"

When the dust had cleared from the wing attack. Joy looked at Matapod. "Come on Metapod, hang in there." She muttered, "Alright Metapod, tackle!"

"What?" Even Sasha seemed surprised by Joy's choice of move. They both watched as Metapod launched itself into the air, flipped and struck Fearow in the chest.

"Fearow, leer." Sasha called.

"Metapod, string shot! Okay, Metapod, return."

Sasha frowned once again.

"Joy, what are you doing?"

"You'll see." Joy replied. " Pidgey, let's finish this!" She called as she threw another poke ball on to the field. "Alright, Pidgey, use gust!"

The small bird flapped its wings creating a large wind which eventually knocked Fearow down and out.

Looking down at her unconscious Pokémon Sasha shook her head.

"How do you do that? My Pokémon are at a higher level than yours."

"Type advantage in a little thing called surprise." Joy said casually.

"Creative strategy is more like it." Sasha muttered as she called back her Pokémon. "Come on, that's enough battling for today let's go get lunch. You think you'll be ready for the gym soon?"

"Sure, if I keep going like this, probably by the end of the week. I think Sparkplug needs a little bit more training though."

"You're going to need more than that to beat the gym." Sasha said grimly, "That's a rock gym and direct attacks won't work.

"Yeah, I'm working on that, just you wait and see."

 

Joy worked as hard as she could for the rest of the week. When she couldn't battle Sasha she battled the trainers that came through the center, each giving her and her Pokémon valuable experience. She just needed one more before she took on the Pewter City gym leader.

Her Pokémon were steadily getting stronger as the days went on, even Sparkplug, whose speed had greatly improved, though Joy knew it would be useless against a rock type gym. She was battling the last trainer that come through the center for the day when Megapod began to glow once more, this time Joy knew what was happening. It had seemed to like a long time coming but she would finally get her Butterfree.

The large butterfly Pokémon was more beautiful than she had ever imagined. She only needed to learn one more move before she took on the gym, then she could finally earn her first badge.

"Almost there." She murmured as she studied the new Pokémon fluttering about the Pokémon center lobby. "As long as we keep training, we'll get there soon enough."

 

Joy had never battled so much in her life, even Sasha was getting tired of losing.

"Have even thought about your strategy?" She asked Joy one morning.

"Sure, you'll just have to wait and see. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve."

 

Finally, after almost two weeks Joy knew she was ready.

"You ready to head over to the gym?" Sasha asked, "Why am I even asking?"

"You bet!" Joy exclaimed, "Me and my guys are ready!"

The gym was about what Joy expected, a sturdy structure with the Pokémon League emblem on the front. When she knocked the heavy doors swung open.

"I'm here to challenge the gym leader!" She spoke in a clear strong voice, which betrayed the nerves that were slowly creeping up on her.

"Very well," said a voice from the gloom, "I accept your challenge."

Then the lights came up on the battlefield and there was a young man in his late teens or early twenties sitting on a ledge at the far end of the field. He came to greet her. He had dark brown hair and squinty brown eyes. He was wearing a ragged T-shirt and cargo pants.

"Are you Brock?"

The young man laughed.

"Brock? Brock is my older brother, he traveled for a while then settled down to become a Pokémon doctor, he works at the Pokémon center with Nurse Joy. Me, my name is Forrest and I'm the leader of the Pewter City gym.

"I'm Joy, and I want a battle."

"I said I accept your challenge." Forrest replied, "How's two on two?" Forrest seemed unfazed by the small girl in the wheelchair sitting before him, it seemed he was up to her challenge.

"Fine by me."

"Right," Forrest agreed, "let's get to it."

 

"Geodude, I choose you!"

Joy assessed the situation, but she already knew which Pokémon she was going to use.

"Butterfree, come on out!"

Forrest studied her Pokémon but he didn't react.

"Geodude, rock smash!"

"Butterfree, Dodge it!"

"Geodude, rock throw!

One of the flying rocks caught Butterfree on its wing.

"Butterfree! Hang in there! Joy yelled. She gritted her teeth, she wasn't going down that easily. Butterfree, confusion!"

A blue glow surrounded Geodude and he began smashing itself against the walls and the floor.

"Butterfree, keep it up! Confusion!"

A few minutes later Geodude was unconscious on the floor at the gym.

The referee watching the match made the final call.

"Geodude is unable to battle, Butterfree wins!" He announced.

"Well you got me on that one." Forrest commented lightly, "Geodude, return. I don't think you can handle my next Pokémon, go Onyx!"

The rock snake was imposing, but Joy didn't let that scare her.

"Butterfree, return. You deserve a bit of a rest." She reached for her next poke ball. 

"Pidgey, I choose you!"

The bird burst from its poke ball.

Forrest smirked.

"I think you're making this too easy."

"Don't be so sure!" Joy countered. She could feel Forrest's eyes on her and knew she had surprised him.

"Pidgey, gust!"

Before her Pidgey could appropriately get in a hit Forrest had already called his move.

"Onyx, bind!"

Joy knew she was done before the attack had finished, and she just stared when her Pidgey was finally released, unconscious on the ground.

"Pidgey is unable to battle. Onyx wins!" The referee called.

"You're down by one." Forrest commented, "Show me what else you got Joy."

"Butterfree, you're up!"

"Flying again. Your Butterfree has already taken a lot of damage, but let's see how it goes."

Joy knew she had to finish this fast, Butterfree wasn't going to last much longer.

"Let's finish this up! She called, "Butterfree, confusion!"

"Onyx, rock throw!"

Joy gritted her teeth. Oh no, she was going to be screwed if Butterfree took another major hit.

"Hang in there Butterfree you can do it! Confusion!"

She knew she had that she had it when Onyx collapsed and the rocks that had been in its attack fell back. The referee made the final call and Joy released a long breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"Onyx is unable to battle. Butterfree wins. Victory goes to the challenger, Joy!"

After recalling his Pokémon, Forrest stepped forward to shake her hand.

"You battled well Joy and you definitely earned this."

From his pocket he pulled something small and shiny.

"May I present you with the Boulder badge. Congratulations. Now I would take that Butterfree and your Pidgey to see my brother and Nurse Joy," he chuckled, "I think your Pokémon are as stubborn as you are."

 

As they walked away from the gym Sasha was grinning.

"All right, I give, you were ready and you did have a plan."

Joy smirked.

"Why would you doubt me?"

 

A short time later they arrived back at the Pokémon center.

"Nurse Joy, my Pokémon need some help. They got hurt pretty bad in my gym battle."

The nurse smiled.

"No problem. Chansey, Brock, may I please have your assistance."

Joy saw the pink good-natured looking Pokémon hurrying forward pushing a stretcher and following behind it was a young man very similar to the one she had just battled. He looked to be about 6 or 7 years older but the facial features were the same. This must be Brock.

"I take it you just came from battling my brother." He commented.

Joy nodded.

"My Butterfree got pretty beat up." She murmured, "I think it broke it's wing."

"Don't you worry, I'll take care of it; me and Chansey." Brock assured her. " Your Pokémon will be right in no time." He gave her a reassuring smile and she knew why he had become a Pokémon doctor in the first place.


	5. Feisty Grass Types

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to give a little bit of background on where Ash, Misty and Brock ended up by the time my character Joy is on the scene. This is what I think happened to them based on what I have seen in the anime so far. I liked coming up with the back story Brock tells, that's one of my favorite things about writing and continuing stories from source material.

Joy and Sasha stayed in Pewter City for another few days while Joy's Pokémon recovered, particularly Butterfree, who was under Brock's careful supervision. As he and Nurse Joy tended to the Pokémon his story came out and how he had ended up as a Pokémon doctor in the first place.

"I took the job as Pewter City gym leader after my parents' left. There were my brothers and sisters to think about; someone had to take care of them. I did what was necessary." Brock told her as he changed Butterfree's bandages. "Then I met Ash, a trainer like you. Just a kid that had no idea what he was doing, though he had big dreams. Then there was Misty, while I think she was just following Ash around because his Pikachu had fried her bike." He chuckled.

"What about you? What happened after you traveled, how did you become a Pokémon doctor?" Joy asked.

"I trained for a while and then came to work here as an assistant to Nurse Joy. I've learned a lot."

"What happened to Misty and Ash?" Joy continued, picking up the train of thought where Brock's story had left off.

"Misty still runs the gym in Cerulean City. She became the primary gym leader after her sisters left to do some traveling; I don't think they weren't that interested in being gym leaders anyway."

"And Ash?" Joy asked as she handed Butterfree some Pokémon food.

"He traveled for a long time." Brock replied, "Sometimes with me and sometimes with others. He battled all the region leagues until he reached the top. Battled the Elite Four and lost the first time and has been battling them every few years just to test himself. Now he runs a facility as a Frontier Brain in Veridian City. They offered him the position when he was 13, but he didn't take it; wanted to travel more and battle more… Test himself. He's almost 21 now so I guess he finally settled down… Much as Ash ever does."

"You think I could challenge him?" Joy asked eagerly.

"Perhaps." Brock answered, " You'll have to train your Pokémon more. You may have beaten my brother, but there are harder trainers out there-much harder."

"Then I'll do it!" Joy exclaimed. "I'll earn all my badges then I'll come back and challenge Ash!"

"Hey, it's your funeral," Sasha replied as she approached the Pokémon ICU window, "I'll just be happy to watch."

 

Several days later, Joy and Sasha left Pewter City.

"You're going to need a good grass type to challenge the next gym. You heard Brock, Misty is the next gym leader and she's pretty strong."

"Yeah," Joy replied, "I'll catch more Pokémon, I just have to find the right one. Then we'll go battle Misty, right Charmander?"

"Char, char!" The small lizard Pokémon replied. Charmander, as it seemed, was perfectly happy riding on the back of Joy's wheelchair where it could see everything going by as they traveled along. It seemed their Pokémon enjoyed traveling as much as the girls did.

Sasha and Joy battled trainers as they went along and just outside Cerulean City they found what Joy was looking for. In a small field she saw several grass Pokémon: Oddish, Bellsprout and their evolved forms. Soon, Joy spotted a feisty little Oddish she wanted to capture.

"Go, Charmander! Ember!"

Charmander's first attack miss, but Joy gave the command again and this time it hit its mark. While the little Pokémon had only been knocked down by the blast it was far from out.

"Quick, Charmander, it's using stun spore, Dodge it!"

Charmander dodged to the side.

"Charmander, ember!"

By now, the Oddish had been significantly weakened and Joy tried her Poke ball.

"Poke ball, go!"

It caught the Pokémon then jiggled a couple times before the ball burst open.

"Quick, Charmander, ember again!"

This time Oddish seemed to be down.

Several minutes later Oddish was caught and the ball finally clicked. Joy let out a long sigh as Sasha bent to pick up the poke ball for her.

"Stinker, but I got you now. You're going to be a lot of help in the next gym."

A short distance away they saw a group of Bellsprout and it took several more minutes to single one out and figure out which one to capture. This time Joy used Pidgey, it seemed a flying Pokémon would fare better against the fast-moving grass Pokémon.

"Bellsprout aren't fast." Sasha muttered.

"This one is." Joy grumbled under her breath as she watched it dodge several of Pidgey's moves. "Okay, time for a change of strategy. Pidgey, return." She instructed. "Charmander, let's go!"

"Pidgey, gust, Charmander ember!" Joy instructed her Pokémon.

The two-pronged attack seemed to work as the Bellsprout was now confused and had nowhere to go without getting hit.

"Yeah!" Sasha cheered, "That should do it! She watched as Joy threw another poke ball. "At this rate, you're going to need more Poke balls." Her friend commented. "That brings you up to six Pokémon, and you can only carry six at one time. Your next catch goes to transfer system at the Pokémon center."

"Right," Joy replied, "but if I catch any more I can exchange them in Cerulean City." She stowed her latest capture in her bag. There would be plenty of time to train her new Pokémon. She was going to need the time if she planned on earning her next badge soon.

"I guess it's on to Cerulean City." Sasha commented.

"You bet!" Joy replied enthusiastically as she negotiated a particularly muddy puddle with her wheelchair which nearly unseated Charmander. "Let's get out of here before I fall in a hole, or we'll have more problems than feisty grass Pokémon."


	6. Feeling Misty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took much longer to write even though it is relatively simple, mostly because of all the dialogue and I added a few short scenes between Joy and Sasha to fill in a few details.

Joy spent the next week or so training every chance she got. When she wasn't battling the trainers she ran into on the road she battled Sasha, if only to keep her Pokémon in tip top form. The Pokémon she had chosen for her battle against the water type gym were Sparkplug, Bellsprout and Oddish with Charmander as her backup.

She was still waiting for Bellsprout to learn razor leaf which was one of the best moves a grass type Pokémon could learn. The move was quick and effective and did more damage the stronger the Pokémon got.

"Are you sure you have a strategy?" Sasha asked one evening after latest training session, "Misty is pretty fierce."

"Sure." Joy replied, "You guys ready to take on Misty?" Joy asked her Pokémon.

All of her Pokémon nodded.

"Pika!" Sparkplug responded eagerly.

"Bell-sprout!" The small grass Pokémon replied its leaves waving.

"Odd, odd, odd!" Her Oddish mumbled.

"You okay Oddish?" Joy asked.

The small plant Pokémon's leaves drooped.

"Maybe it's lacking confidence." Sasha suggested. "Fearow did beat it up pretty bad."

"Is that true, Oddish?" Joy asked.

"Odd, odd." The Pokémon nodded again.

"I have an idea," Joy suggested, "how about you train with Sparkplug, he's not as strong as Sasha's Pokémon."

"Odd!" Oddish agreed enthusiastically.

"Good, then it settled, one more quick battle before bed. "Sparkplug, go easy on em, okay?"

The small yellow Pokémon nodded.

"Pik-a-chu." It replied happily.

Joy spent the next several minutes randomly calling out attacks for both Pokémon and the Pokémon took turns dodging and returning attacks. Joy was pleased when Oddish successfully dodged several attacks.

"Okay everybody, time for bed, return." She recalled the 3 Pokémon she had been working with to their poke balls.

Sasha stood up from the log she had been sitting on observing the battles and stretched.

"I think it's time we turned in too, if you make it to Cerulean tomorrow morning we're going to need it."

"Right." Joy replied. "Is there Pokémon center nearby?"

Sasha consulted her Poke Gear. "Yeah, just down the road and Cerulean City is about a a few hours walk from there. Maybe Nurse Joy can give us better directions."

"Well let's get going," Joy yawned, "I'm getting tired, and I think my butt is permanently glued to my seat!"

 

As Sasha had hoped, Nurse Joy could indeed give them directions to the Cerulean City gym, and early the next morning the girls set out making their way in the bright sunshine towards the next city.

"I can't wait till we get there!" Joy exclaimed, "It will be so interesting to see a new place, all the cities are so different!"

"Misty is a challenge," Sasha said thoughtfully, "I remember when I battled her, I almost lost, but my Bellsprout just managed to save the day."

"Yeah, tell me again why you returned back to Pallet, you haven even made it to even half of the gyms."

"I was winning, but as a trainer I wasn't where I wanted to be, so I came back home to train some more on my own."

"Well everyone in Pallet was surprised to see you. No one had ever come home unless they were horribly disgraced by some rival that they had met on their travels."

"Yeah…" Sasha murmured. She pulled something hard and rectangular out of her bag, it turned out to be her badge case. Slowly, she opened it, on the crushed velvet were four badges.

"Come on Sasha," Joy said eagerly, "you can do it, let's get our badges then we can compete in the Pokémon League together."

Sasha shut the badge case with a snap.

"Alright," she said, a look of fresh determination coming over her face. "Let's do it!" The two girls high-fived and laughing they continued their way down the road.

 

Finally, they reached Cerulean City.

"Come on, let's stop at the Pokémon Center before we head over to the gym. We can sign up for the Pokémon League there."

Once inside the Pokémon center they spoke to Nurse Joy.

"Nurse Joy," Joy spoke up, "my friend and I would like to register for the Pokémon League."

"Well I'll have to see your Pokédex, first."

The girls handed over their devices, which also functioned as their trainer ID.

"Alright, we have Sasha and Joy, both of you are from Pallet Town, correct?"

The girls nodded.

Nurse Joy continued reading off the information on her computer screen.

"Sasha has 4 badges and Joy has one. Alright, congratulations, you are now both registered. Thank you. You also are eligible for a badge case if you don't have one already."

Joy looked chagrined. She had completely forgotten to ask Prof. Oak about a case.

"Right," she mumbled, "I guess I need one."

"Okay, here you are, and good luck."

Both girls thanked her before hurrying out of the Pokémon center leaving several older trainers staring after them.

"I would so run if I could!" Joy exclaimed. "Come on, let's go get my second badge!"

 

The Cerulean gym was in a busy part of town. Outside the gym was a large faded mural bearing the image of several water Pokémon.

"Well this is it." Sasha murmured, looking up at the imposing structure. "Let's go!"

The gym was impressive and they walked down several long corridors before reaching the battlefield, which turned out to be an enormous swimming pool.

Just as they entered a young woman with bright red hair shot out of the pool. Next to her was an enormous Gyarados. Sasha screamed, almost falling into the pool.

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, this guy may look fierce but he's a real sweetheart." She patted the large dragon Pokémon, who growled softly. "You girls here to challenge me?" I'm Misty the gym leader."

Joy spoke up.

"I am."

Misty frowned.

"I usually hold the battles in the middle of the pool, but given your chair I think I can make an exception and will hold the battle on opposite ends. That sound good to you?"

"All right with me." Joy replied.

"Okay, I'll be with you in just a second." She winked.

 

Several minutes later, the battle was ready to begin.

"I usually do two on two. You familiar with basic battle rules?"

Joy nodded.

"Okay, for my first Pokémon I choose Staryu, come on out!"

Joy, had already selected her Pokémon and her poke balls were already on her lap.

"Okay, Oddish come on out!"

"Staryu, tackle!" Misty called.

"Oddish, Dodge and stun spore!"

"Staryu dodge and rapid spin!"

"Oddish, counter with tackle!"

Joy was pleased when the attack hit knocking the starfish like Pokémon backwards through the air.

"Staryu! Hang in there!" Misty called. "Good hit, Joy you're quick and effective."

"Thanks! Oddish, Dodge and sleep powder!"

The water Pokémon shuddered and fluttered to the surface of the pool apparently asleep.

"All right Oddish, let's finish this up with tackle." The attack hit the unconscious Pokémon directly. "Again! Let's finish that up with absorb!"

After the dust had cleared from the attack Joy knew it was over as a light in the center of Staryu's body flickered and died.

Misty looked like she had been expecting this.

"Great job, Staryu, return. For my next Pokémon I choose Gyarados!" Misty shouted. Once again the enormous Pokémon sprang to life in the pool.

Joy swallowed, but continued with her plan.

"Sparkplug, do your stuff!"

" Gyarados, Hydro pump!" Misty called.

"Dodge!" Joy yelled, "Thunderbolt!"

Several seconds later after the attack cleared, sparks flew from the large Pokémon's body.

"Smart." Misty murmured.

"Okay, Sparkplug, return. All right, I choose you, Oddish! Let's do this! Okay Oddish absorb, now! Come on, keep it up!

"Gyarados, flamethrower!" Misty called.

Joy bit her lip, uh oh.

"Oddish, Dodge it!" She screamed, "Absorb!"

It took several creative dodging maneuvers and critical hits but finally Misty's Pokémon seem ed to be tiring out, even a Pokémon like a Gyarados. Once again she called out Sparkplug.

"Sparkplug, combined attack thunderbolt and quick attack, go!"

Joy held her breath as the dust and smoke from the attack cleared and was relieved to see the large Pokémon unconscious near the pool's edge.

She had won, though it could've easily gone the other way. Somewhere behind her Sasha was cheering and Misty approached her smiling. Several minutes later, by the side of the pool Misty handed her something small and shiny.

"As proof of your victory here, I present you with the Cascade Badge, congratulations."

Joy grinned.

"Thanks. It was a great battle. I only hope my Pokémon continue to get stronger.

"That Pikachu reminds me of a Pikachu belonging to a friend of mine, it's also very strong. You should be proud."

Joy nodded, she was still smiling as she made her way out of the gym.

"Were you trying to give me a heart attack?" Sasha asked when they had left the gym. "That was the most hair-raising battle I've ever seen!"

"We'll see how you do when it's your turn to battle." Joy replied mildly, "You should know by now, don't underestimate me I may be small but I want to be powerful too."


	7. Up the Mountain

"Haven't you've stared at those enough?" Sasha asked, as Joy continued to stare at her badges in her badge case.

"No, I mean-I just can't believe it. I won these."

On the back of her wheelchair Charmander looked over her shoulder.

"Right Charmander?"

"Char!" The small lizard Pokémon replied, it's blue eyes glinting.

"Well the path up ahead is going to be tricky." Sasha continued. "We're going up into the mountains and then back down towards Vermillion City; will the next gym is."

"Great." Joy muttered, "I can only imagine how easily this," she tapped the sides of her wheelchair, is going to go through that."

"Yeah." Sasha replied, "I'll get out and push."

There only excitement for the next several miles (which seemed to take an eternity in Joy's opinion) were the various trainers they battled. They pick and chose their battles depending on which Pokémon trainer had, sometimes Sasha would battle and sometimes Joy.

"Well you'd make a decent trainer between the two of you." A teenage boy commented after Sasha had defeated him. Joy, meanwhile, had gotten beaten twice before they had reached the end of the path leading to the Pokémon center.

"All these trainers are coming to or from Mount Moon," Sasha observed, "I bet you they have loads of new Pokémon.

"You think?" Joy muttered as she recalled a fainted Butterfree, "I don't know how we're going to get through the mountain when there isn't another Pokémon center until we get to Vermillion City."

Sasha hoisted her pack up on her shoulder.

"We'll manage," she smiled at her friend, "we always do."

 

The Pokémon center within sight of the mountain was packed as was the PokeMart nearby.

"Well, it's the last place to heal Pokémon and resupply before heading up the mountain," Sasha muttered, "they don't waste any time do they? Come on."

After waiting for several minutes their Pokémon were healed and they headed to the mart for supplies before heading towards Mount moon.

As they headed towards the mouth of the cave Joy spied a Jigglepuff hiding in the tall grass. As she approached, it looked up at her with big luminous eyes.

"Jiggle?" It questioned.

"You going to catch that?" Sasha muttered out the side of her mouth.

"Going to try." Joy muttered back, she dug in her bag for a poke ball

"Sparkplug, go!"

Joy moved fast, she knew she had to if she was going to catch this Pokémon because once it used "sing" it was all over.

"Spark plug, thunder shock!"

The Jigglepuff took the hit but kept coming.

"Spark plug, quick attack then thunder shock. Let's go!"

After another critical hit the small, pink balloon like Pokémon staggered, significantly stunned.

"Poke ball, go!"

Joy realized she had gotten lucky and the ball only jiggled a couple of times before clicking; the Pokémon had been caught. As soon and Joy picked it up it made a soft whirring noise and shrunk to the size of a walnut.

"This your seventh?" Sasha asked, "You can only carry 6 Pokémon at a time."

"Yeah, I know. Hand me my Pokédex, I have to transfer this to Prof. Oak."

 

Joy decided a dozen paces into the cave she didn't like it. It was gloomy and dank, and there were Zubat everywhere! Between the Zubat and the trainers that were frequenting the cave in search of Pokémon (or a way out as the case may be) it was a slow trip. Sasha and Joy took turns battling the trainers; sometimes tag battling in order just to get through because Sasha's strengths made up for Joy's weaknesses and vice versa.

On the rare moment they didn't have a stretch of ready to fight trainers they caught new Pokémon. Sasha caught an Onix and Joy a Geodude, because she figured it would come in handy against an electric type gym; anything that could protect her against electric attacks.. She also caught a Machop, which, although it was small for its kind it was a good fighter and would come in handy if she ever needed something against a flying type.

"You're going to have to switch your Pokémon when we get to the next town." Sasha reminded her.

"I know," Joy replied, "I still haven't figured out who I'm transferring just yet."

"Look, there!" Sasha pointed, "That's the exit! After that, it's just a few more hours until we get to Vermillion City." When they finally exited the cave Sasha looked up at the darkening sky. "If we hurry we can get there before gets dark."


	8. The Electric Boss

Finally, the girls arrived in Vermillion City. The city was set on a seaport, and the girls could smell the ocean and hear the boats coming in and out.

"Wow, this is amazing!" Joy exclaimed, looking around, "I've never seen the ocean before!"

"Yeah," Sasha agreed, "it's much different than Pallet Town."

Eventually, they made their way to the Pokémon center and Joy knew there was one thing she had to do before her Pokémon battle.

"Nurse Joy, will you check out my Pokémon? Also, I need to know where I can exchange one Pokémon for another?"

"Sure." Nurse Joy replied, "Our transfer center is right over there." She pointed to a small contraption on the far end of the lobby opposite the main desk. "Just follow the on-screen prompts and you should be all set."

"Alright, thank you." Joy replied.

"Do you need my help or do you think you can manage?" Sasha asked.

"I think I'll be okay." Joy replied.

She was already figuring out what her next step would be. The transfer center was just tall enough for her to reach it from her wheelchair, had it been any taller she would have needed Sasha's help, but this was something she wanted to do herself (as much as she was able).

First, she called up Prof. Oak.

"Hey Prof., I was wondering if you could send me one of my Pokémon?"

"Absolutely Joy, I'd be glad to. Which Pokémon would you like me to send?"

"My Geodude, please." Joy replied promptly.

"Right away!" Prof. Oak replied. "By the way, which Pokémon are you sending me in return?"

"My Oddish, I think." Joy replied. "I don't need it at the moment, and it will be little good against an electric gym."

"Ah, so you must be in Vermillion City. Wonderful!" Prof. Oak replied, "I'll get Geodude to send to you right away."

Several minutes later the transfer tube at the Pokémon center ejected a Poke ball.

"Welcome to the team, Geodude." Joy said with a smile. "Lt. Surge won't know what hit him!"

 

After adding Geodude to the team, Joy began her strategy were defeating the electric gym leader.

"It's pretty simple," she told Sasha, "Geodude is a rock type, and rock types are strong against electric types. Any electric attack that is thrown at me won't have any effect so I'll essentially be waiting for Surge to wear himself out."

"Wow," Sasha sounded impressed, "it's actually a really good strategy. Wish I had thought of that when I was battling him. It took me three tries to get my badge."

Joy worked with Geodude as she had with Oddish and Sparkplug, she wanted to wait a little bit before taking on the gym wanting to wait until Geodude had learned rock throw because it did more damage than the standard tackle.

"So how long are you going to wait before challenging Surge?" Sasha asked.

"No more than a week." Joy answered, "I want to train up Geodude a little bit more before I take him on."

Over the next week the girls did a series of battles mostly between Geodude and Fearow, if only to build up Geodude's experience.

"So that's your plan?" Sasha grumbled, after she had lost a battle for the fifth time. "Beat up my Pokémon so yours get experience."

Joy shrugged.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it. No pain no gain!"

"Yeah, easy for you to say." Sasha muttered as she recalled her Pokémon. "I wonder how Fearow is taking this."

 

Finally Joy felt she was ready to take on the gym.

"You ready Geodude?"

"Dude!" The Pokémon replied in a gravelly voice.

"Alright, let's go get em!"

The gym was about what Joy expected of an electric leader. It was surprisingly dark when she entered with Sasha behind her.

"Where is this guy?" Sasha muttered.

Joy drew herself up.

"My name is Joy and I'm here to challenge the gym leader!"

"So they sent me another pipsqueak." A voice said from the darkness.

Then the lights came up and a tall imposing man sat on a chair at the far end of the battlefield. He was dressed in a military uniform and he looked like he had been quite handsome when he was younger, but now his hair had turned gray and receded somewhat.

"This guy gives me the creeps." Sasha muttered, "I'll be over there if you need me."

"Looks can be deceiving." Joy shot back.

Surge chuckled.

"Very well. Our battle will be one-on-one. I choose my Raichu. What will you choose?"

"Wait and see." Joy replied, rising to the challenge.

"The battle between Lt. Surge and the challenger Joy from Pallet Town will now begin," the referee announced, "each will use one Pokémon. The battle is over when either sides Pokémon are unable to fight."

""Geodude, I choose you!" Joy called.

"So you're actually giving me a challenge today?" Surge murmured.

"Geodude, defense curl!"

"Raichu, thunderbolt!"

Before the attack even hit Joy knew it would have no effect, she wasn't worried.

She gave the command for "defense curl" again. Even though it was protected against electric attacks it was best to have Geodude's defense as high as possible. It was quite possibly one of the slowest battles Joy had ever been in, but it was all about taking down Surge's defenses and wearing down his Pokémon.

After she had raised Geodude's defense she went into attack mode.

"Geodude, rock throw!"

"Raichu!" Surge screamed, "Get out of there!"

Joy kept up her barrage of attacks and eventually she knew the other Pokémon was getting tired when her attacks started hitting regularly.

"You want to forfeit?" Joy asked.

"No way!" Surge replied, "You should know by now I don't give up easily."

Joy knew the battle was just over and figured tackle with just about do it she didn't need to use her better moves on an already weakened Pokémon.

Finally, when the dust cleared Raichu was unconscious.

"Raichu is unable to battle," the referee announced, "the victory goes to the challenger, Joy!"

Joy grinned and Surge was grinning too when he came forward to shake her hand.

"Well, you give me a run for my money, but you beat me fair and square. As proof of your victory here at the Vermillion gym here is the Thunder Badge. Congratulations!"

 

Afterwards, Sasha and Joy discussed the battle.

"Well, you sure took him down a few pegs. Maybe someday some trainer will do something about that ego."

Joy laughed.

"Yeah, I don't know about that is that, he's got quite a reputation in this town and his Raichu is really strong."

"Well," that depends who you're talking to." Sasha replied. "Come on, let's head on back to the Pokémon center, I'm sure our team could use a little TLC."


	9. The Long Road

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter ended up being so short but I majorly restructured the next 4 chapters because I had a bit of a brain fart as far as the chronological order of things.

The morning following Joy's gym battle, she and Sasha were eating breakfast while Sasha studied a map.

"The next gym from here is in Celadon City but that's a long way from here down towards southern Kanto."

"So where is that exactly?" Joy asked. She handed Charmander a Berry.

"We have to go east of Cerulean City and through the Rock Tunnel."

Joy groaned.

"Not another cave! You know my wheelchair isn't cut out for this; my wheels are going to fall off, then where would we be?"

Sasha bit her lip.

"Point taken, but it's the only way to get to Celadon from here, and I don't think we can go all the way around the mountain."

Joy conceded her friend had a point.

"Also, we may have to camp out for a few days because there's no Pokémon center between here and Celadon; the closest one is by the Rock Tunnel entrance."

"Great, now what am I supposed to do? Pee in the bushes?"

Sasha made a face.

"Well let's hope it doesn't come to that."

 

Before leaving the Pokémon center, both of the girls exchanged Pokémon. Joy sending Geodude back to Prof. Oak, and Sasha exchanging her Sandslash for a Weepingbell, which looked very happy to see her.

"This guy is going to evolve into a Victrebel soon," Sasha commented, " at least we have Pokémon to get us through the Rock Tunnel on one piece, it's going to make Mount Moon look like a walk in the park."

 

They were heading back towards Cerulean city on Route 6 when a crowd of people rushed by them nearly running them over.

"What's going on!" Joy exclaimed.

Sasha looked around.

"Don't know."

Finally she flagged down one of the trainers rushing by them.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"They're giving away discount tickets for this ocean liner to all Pokémon trainers!" A boy about the same age as Sasha exclaimed. "If you want them, you better go now!"

The girls looked at each other.

"You want to go?" Joy asked.

Her friend shrugged.

"I don't see why not, sounds like fun."

Joy look back over the seaport. It looked like her journey to the next gym was going to have to wait, and surprisingly, she was okay with that. Her mother was always begging her to get out of the house and do something new and well, she was up for the adventure.


	10. The Cruise Ship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up being a little longer than I planned, but I guess that makes up for how short chapter 9 was.

Joy gasped, the scene before her was grander than any she'd ever seen.

There, on the dock were hundreds of Pokémon trainers and there in the harbor was the largest ship she had ever seen. It seemed to stretch on forever and there seemed to be endless decks and windows like each level had hundreds of miniature house.

"Whoa," Sasha murmured softly. "This is--"

"Incredible…" Joy finished, equally in awe.

Just then, a commanding voice cut above the din.

"Attention trainers, any of those interested in tickets for the trainers' day cruise please form a line over here we only have about 200 tickets available, so step lively!"

In the stampede that ensued, Joy and Sasha stood by, it was better to wait until the chaos had subsided before they approached.

Finally, as trainers began to board the gangplank; some accompanied by Pokémon, Joy and Sasha approached the man in the elaborate suit that had spoken on the dock.

"Excuse me, we're trainers and we want tickets for the cruise." Sasha spoke up.

The man smiled.

"Of course. You're in luck, I have just a few left."

Sasha and Joy grinned at each other.

"Well that's a relief." Joy said with a chuckle.

"Thank you and enjoy. The cruise is over at sundown."

Thanking the man again Sasha and Joy hurried aboard.

I tickets say were in room 123 and the brochure says dinner will be served at 6 o'clock and trainers are free to come and go as they please… There is a common room down the hall from the kitchens."

"Well let's go put our stuff in our room, " Joy replied, "then we can go check out the common room, maybe go meet some trainers."

After dropping their bags, Joy and Sasha headed for the common room.

"You want to let the Pokémon out?" Joy asked.

"Maybe not all of them; it's going to be crowded enough." Sasha replied, "I'll let out Wartortle though." Sasha replied.

The turtle Pokémon appeared at her feet a few moments later.

"Okay," Joy agreed, "I'll let out Charmander and Sparkplug. Come on out guys!" She said as she tossed two poke balls into the air.

The Pokémon both climbed on the back of her wheelchair looking around the ship interior with large eyes.

"Pika!" Spark plug murmured.

"Charmander, Char…" Charmander seemed a bit more wary. Joy could feel the heat from its warm body close to her cheek.

They had just entered the common room when a loud voice seemed to shatter Joy's eardrums.

"Incoming! Look out!"

Joy looked up and just enough time to see a boy in a worn T-shirt and faded jeans. He had tousled blonde hair and bright blue eyes behind glasses that were slightly askew. He appeared to be chasing a Raichu and Magnamite, both of which were sparking incessantly as they dashed through the crowded ballroom; making several people jump out of the way.

He almost ended up in Joy's lap, but he eventually manage to seize the Raichu around the middle his teeth gritted.

"Magnamite, return!" He called firmly holding out a poke ball calling the Pokémon back while still trying to hold onto the other squirming Pokémon.

He looked up at Joy and Sasha grinning apologetically.

"Sorry about that. These two can be a bit of trouble, and that Raichu can be a bit stubborn… Raichu, return." He added as he recalled the second Pokémon. "I'm Jeremy, by the way."

"I'm Joy," Joy replied, "and this is my friend Sasha. This is Charmander and Sparkplug." She gestured to the Pokémon on either side of her chair.

"This is Wartortle." Sasha added.

"You want to have a battle?" Jeremy asked.

"Sure!" Joy replied.

"Great!" Jeremy replied enthusiastically. "How about my Raichu against your Charmander?"

"Fine by me."

"Okay then. Come on out Raichu!"

"You heard him Charmander, let's go."

"Ladies first." Jeremy replied with a grin.

"Alright, you asked for it! Charmander, Ember!"

"Right back at you!" Jeremy challenged, "Raichu, thunderbolt!"

The thunderbolt hit Charmander.

"Come on Charmander, hang in there!" Joy yelled, "You can do it!"

As it struggled to hold back the attack, Charmander began to glow and it took Joy five seconds to realize what was happening.

"Whoa, it's evolving!" Jeremy murmured.

Then Charmeleon was standing there, bold and determined, it definitely looked much fiercer then it's pre-evolved form. It seemed to swell and grow and flames flew from its mouth and tail.

"Looks like it's learning a new move," Sasha observed, "rage increases its attack power."

"Come on Charmelean, let's do this!" Joy called, "Keep that rage coming!" It was the only way she could beat Jeremy's Raichu, since the Pokémon was much stronger than Charmeleon was, even newly evolved. Joy knew if she could wear Raichu down the battle would be hers regardless of type advantage.

"Charmeleon, ember!"

"Raichu, quick attack!" Jeremy called.

Both Pokémon were weak, but they kept coming; Joy knew this was going to be a tough battle, eventually it would come down the who could last the longest.. It didn't matter how much Raichu got knocked down, it kept coming but so did Charmeleon.

"Charmeleon, rage, now!" Joy called.

"Raichu, thunderbolt!"

The two attacks collided in midair causing an explosion which made several trainers look up and when the smoke cleared both Pokémon were on the ground.

"Charmeleon, can you get up?" Joy asked.

"What about you Raichu?" Jeremy asked his Pokémon, but Raichu didn't seem to be moving and Charmeleon was barely moving, it's only response was a soft growl.

Finally Sasha called it.

"That's enough guys, I'm calling this a draw."

"Right," Jeremy replied, "Raichu, return. You did a great job."

Joy recalled her own Pokémon.

"You did a great job too, Charmeleon. I'm proud of you."

"It was a good battle." Jeremy shook her hand, "Thanks." Suddenly two boys came running out of the crowd they appeared to be Sasha's age or a little bit older.

"Hey Jer!" One of them with red hair called, "We were wondering where you got off to!

"Yeah," the other with short blue hair cut in, "we were wondering if you caught those crazy Pokémon of yours!"

"Yeah, yeah, I did." Jeremy muttered, "I was just in the middle of a battle."

"You win?" The redhead boy asked smugly.

"Draw." Jeremy replied flatly. "I guess it was strength against strength, her Charmander evolved." 

The boys were just walking away when Jeremy turned around.

"You want to join us?" Jeremy asked.

Joy looked at Sasha who shrugged.

"Guess so," Joy replied, we got nothing better to do."

 

Joy and Sasha spent the rest of the time with Jeremy and his friends. All of the boys came from Vermillion City and Jeremy was training to specialize in electric type Pokémon.

"I want to be just like Lt. Surge, I've been working with electric types since I was a kid, though the Pokémon I have now are a bit harder to handle."

"That Raichu's got an attitude, man." His friend the redhead, named Boris replied.

"So you been telling me." Jeremy replied dryly, "I'm working on it."

"Yeah keep telling that to our jeans that keep getting fried!" The other boy, Charlie, shot back. "I'm tired of getting fried and I wish you'd trade that Magnamite it's an a--"

Sasha and Joy looked at each other smothering their laughter at the boys banter, Jeremy's ability to control his electric types seemed to be a problem.

"Where you guys headed next?" Sasha asked, changing the subject.

"Ultimately," Charlie explained, before Jeremy could speak, "we're headed for Saffron City, we're battling some electricians there, but right now after this were headed for Celadon City."

"Us too!" Sasha exclaimed, "but I think we'll head out tomorrow since it's going to be almost dark by the time the ship docks."

Jeremy nodded.

"So, Joy, you got any badges yet?"

Joy grinned.

"Three."

"You beat Surge yet?" Boris asked.

"You bet! I used a rock type."

The boys chuckled appreciatively.

"Nice!"

"What about you Sasha?" Charlie asked.

"I'm taking a break from gym battling just now, I got some stuff I have to figure out."

 

The five of them continued talking until the sun was low in the sky and the ship had turned around and was heading back to the dock. As they disembarked, they said goodbye before going their separate ways.

"Hey Joy, catch you later, maybe I'll see you in Saffron."

"Yeah, maybe." Joy answered.

They continued waving as the boys headed the opposite way. As soon as Jeremy in his friends had disappeared the girls headed for the Pokémon center.

"I think after the day we've had our Pokémon could use a little TLC," Sasha murmured, " but that's nothing Nurse Joy can't fix."


	11. Rock and Roll

The next morning, Sasha was, once again studying a map; comparing it to information on her Poke Gear.

"Where to?" Joy asked as she repacked her Pokémon in her bag all had been checked and cleared by Nurse Joy the night before.

"Well, we could head east of here to Diglett cave; there's some nice areas to catch some different Pokémon there… Places I haven't been to yet." She added.

"Cave, no way." Joy replied animatedly, "You heard what I said about going in caves. By the end of all this my chair is going to be scrap metal and all have to send away to Kalos for a new one; that's going to take months!"

Sasha rolled her eyes.

"Okay, keep your shirt on, but seriously, it's not that far. The cave is small and we can get in and out of it easily. Not like some of the other caves around here."

"Okay," Joy grumbled, "you win. Diglett cave it is."

"Yay!" Sasha cheered under her breath before consulting another area of the map.

"Where to after that?" Joy asked.

"We come back through here and go north to Cerulean, then through the Rock Tunnel, through Lavender Town and east towards Celadon." Finally Sasha stood up. "Okay, I got everything we need for our next four stops, you ready to go?"

Joy gave a shrug as she cinched her bag on her arm rest.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

 

The trip towards Diglett cave was uneventful. It was a short ways outside of town where the city gave way to rolling fields, which turned into mountainous terrain. There along the pathways calls of "Diglett di,diglett di" and "trio, trio, trio" issued from furrows deep underground. They were definitely in Diglett country.

The cave was just as Sasha had described, small and dimly lit, it's bare pathways leading from one entrance to another.

Joy figured it was worth her while and caught one of the first Diglett she encountered. It would be a good addition to her team, and would definitely be the type of Pokémon that could get her out of trouble.

After they made their way through the small cave Sasha and Joy turned around and headed down another adjoining route. Joy knew they were headed towards Lavender Town which was inhabited by several ghost type Pokémon and the only good type against ghost type was psychic so it was best to catch the only psychic type Pokémon that lived around here, a Drowzee.

She found one in the tall grass, it was minding its own business before she engaged it in battle. Halfway through her battle though Sasha encountered an Ekans, which was making a nuisance of itself so Sasha had decided to catch it, it would become useful when well trained and definitely after it evolved. The Drowzee, however proved to be harder to capture Joy found herself rotating Pokémon every few minutes just to keep them from all falling asleep. The two she was relying on most were Pidgey and Charmeleon; they would definitely do the most damage. After repeated hits from Charmeleon the Drowzee was significantly weakened and Joy was able to catch it. She smiled, as Sasha picked up the poke ball.

"Got yours?" Joy asked as she pulled out her Pokédex to transfer her latest catch.

"It was a pain but it was worth it, I'd like to sic it on some of the boys in Pallet just for a laugh."

Joy chuckled.

"Somehow I don't think your mom or Prof. Oak would go for that."

"I know," Sasha quipped, "but the thought makes me feel better."

 

The journey back through Vermillion seemed longer, they would be lucky if they could make it to the Pokémon center outside of the Rock Tunnel by nightfall. It would be foolish to go into the tunnel late in the day.

Sasha and Joy took turns battling the trainers they met along Route 9, some of them were much more challenging than either of them expected. Joy hoped her Pidgey would evolve soon she knew they learned many more attacks after they evolved that would be useful to her later on.

She had just finished a battle with a boy slightly younger than her when Charmeleon flashed its claws and demolished a hedge to her right.

"Whoa!" The kid said, straightening his faded ball cap, "You didn't mention your Charmeleon knew cut."

"I think it just learned it." Joy murmured, "Didn't you, Charmeleon?"

Charmeleon snorted flashing its claws again and puffing out its chest.

"Right."

"Well that will come in handy up ahead, the path towards the Pokémon center is all overgrown, we may need to cut down a few hedges to get through." Sasha said, looking ahead. "Obviously the map doesn't show that."

Joy looked at Charmeleon.

"Well Charmeleon, you know what to do."

 

A short time later, large stony boulders came into view.

Sasha pointed.

"Look, there's the Pokémon center! Right over there is the cave we have to go through to get to Lavender Town."

"Well I'm ready for a break." Joy sighed. "It's been a long day and I think we could all use some rest before tackling the cave tomorrow."

 

The following morning, with their bags packed, Joy and Sasha prepared to enter the Rock Tunnel.

"I'll have Charmeleon and Sparkplug help us out." Joy offered, "Come on out guys!"

"Yeah," Sasha agreed, "I heard it can get pretty dark in there, like really dark!"

"Can you guys help us out?" Joy asked the Pokémon.

"Char!" Charmeleon replied with an air of "I'll take care of this" Joy noticed it had become more confident since evolving.

" Pika!" Spark plug replied, "Pikachu!" It's cheeks began to spark.

As they entered the cave, Joy gave one last instruction.

"I'm counting on you guys."

Charmeleon blew out a long slender flame from its mouth. At the same time its tail glowed brightly. Spark plug, meanwhile had emitted so much electricity it had turned into a blinding flash.

"I think Spark plug just learned Flash!" Sasha exclaimed as she blinked, her eyes adjusting to the sudden brightness.

"Way to go Spark plug," Joy praised, "you can tone it down Charmeleon," she added to her other Pokémon, "I think were good for now."

"Pik-a-chu." Spark plug replied, it seemed pleased with itself as it continued to trot in front of Joy cutting the way through the gloom.


	12. A Gastly Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that I haven't updated this in a while, but I been a little busy. Still, I been trying to write every day even if it's just a little bit. I been splitting up the chapters and writing half a chapter at a time since they're turning out to be quite lengthy.
> 
> This chapter was fun to write, I love writing Sasha's dialogue, she's turning into a fun character.

Finally they reached the end of the long, dark cave and both exclaimed when they saw the tiniest glimmer of sunlight ahead.

"Finally!" Sasha exclaimed, "I thought we would never get out of there!"

Their team, which consisted of 15 Pokémon between the two of them, was a little worse for wear and even Spark plug and Charmeleon seemed more worn down than usual.

They were just emerging from the cave and south towards the next town when they were stopped by a couple of hikers.

"Hey, you kids just get out of the Rock Tunnel?"

Sasha eyed the two large men warily.

"Yeah…"

"You guys want to battle?"

"We really should be going…" Sasha said carefully, "our Pokémon had been working really hard today and after going through that cave they could really use some rest."

"Oh come on!" The other guy scoffed as he made a grab for Sasha, "You chicken?"

Sasha immediately straightened.

"What? No way!"

"Then let's do it!"

"Machop, let's go!" The small muscled Pokémon appeared immediately ready for battle.

"Ekans, you're up!" Sasha called. The snake Pokémon appeared within seconds, hissing menacingly.

"That all you got!" The first hiker replied, seeming far from impressed.

"Machop, karate chop!"

"Ekans, wrap!" Sasha ordered.

The guy only laughed. He stopped laughing however when his Pokémon was immediately immobilized. Joy already knew this could last a while so she moved to the side to watch the match.

"Machop, get out of there!" The burly hiker yelled, "Use cross chop!"

This, however, didn't go over so well; and Joy watched as the other Pokémon continue to struggle within the tight grip of Ekans.

"Not going to work, your Pokémon is pinned!" Sasha called, "I would try something else."

The man growled in response. Several minutes later his Pokémon was released, unconscious.

"What! That's not possible!" I've never seen an Ekans that strong!"

"I believe that means I win." Sasha replied calmly.

"Machop, return." The hiker replied flatly. Then he and his companion retreated leaving the girls alone once more.

"Nice job, Ekans." Sasha finally commented recalling her Pokémon, then she turned to Joy, "Come on, let's get out of here, I think it's time we find a Pokémon center."

 

"That was amazing!" Joy exclaimed as they continued their journey to the next town. "Did you know it was that strong?"

"I had an idea, but wasn't sure." Sasha replied. "I think I just found my new secret weapon."

"You would do well in a gym match with Ekans." Joy commented casually.

"I don't know." Sasha replied, "Maybe I will."

"Think about it," Joy suggested, "we got a long way till we get to Celadon City."

 

Finally they made it to the next Pokémon center. While there Pokémon rested, the girls made their next plan.

"I need to train Drowzee before we head into Pokémon tower," Joy commented, "I also heard there's some fire Pokémon off to the west, maybe I'll catch a couple."

Sasha stretched, her teal hair looking a little bit more unkempt than usual.

"Can't that wait till after lunch? I'm starving!"

Following their meal at the Pokémon center Joy and Sasha could be found on the battlefield out back, where Drowzee was battling Wartortle.

"Drowzee, headbutt!"

"Wartortle, water gun!" Sasha countered.

"Drowzee, hypnosis!"

Drowzee took a hit, but kept coming, it was far from tired thanks to the care of Nurse Joy. Suddenly, Wartortle stopped, slumped and promptly fell asleep.

Sasha looked aghast.

"Come on Wartortle, wake up!" Sasha muttered.

Joy used this to her advantage and after repetitive headbutts, Sasha's Wartortle was unconscious.

"Gee, thanks," Sasha grumbled as she recalled Wartortle, "you beat me."

"Catch something that's good against a psychic type and maybe we'll talk." Joy replied as she recalled Drowzee.

"Yeah sure, we'll see." Sasha muttered. "So when do you want to head out anyway?"

Joy considered, as she turned back towards the Pokémon center back entrance.

"Well let's go before it gets dark, I don't fancy getting lost in there."

"Yeah," Sasha agreed, pressing her lips together. "Me neither."

 

Lavender Town, such as it was, was small, empty and gloomy. The large dilapidated tower stood off to one side and without even so much a setting foot inside Joy knew it was already inhabited by several ghost-type Pokémon.

"Come on, let's make this quick." Sasha muttered. "This place gives me the creeps!"

The tower was small and flat except were numerous staircases that looked like they would collapse at any moment. Joy looked up.

"Well, looks like I can't get up there." She observed.

"Then let's just go," Sasha commented casually, "then let's get out of here, didn't you say you wanted to catch some fire Pokémon?"

"Yeah, but I really need to catch a Gastly, it could come in handy later."

"How do you plan to do that?" Sasha asked.

Just as she spoke dozens and dozens of Gastly and their evolved forms drifted down the staircase, their purple, black and gray forms illuminated eerily in the gloom.

"Eeeeek!" Sasha squealed. "Hurry up Joy, this place gives me the creeps, for real!" As she spoke more of the Pokémon appeared, surrounding them.

"Come on out Drowzee, do your stuff!" Joy called.

"Gastly, gastly, gas-t-ly" the Pokémon cackled.

At first, Joy wasn't having much luck. Her first few attacks missed and she spent most of the time dodging what attacks she could.

"Drowzee, hypnosis!" Joy called.

Finally the hit took and the ghost Pokémon was suspended in midair, apparently asleep. Joy did what she had during practice, aside from the fact normal attacks wouldn't do any good she used the confusion attack that Drowzee had recently learned, it was the only other attack that would do any damage. Finally the Pokémon was weak enough that she could capture it though two of her throws went wide before she managed to hit it; something not quite solid wasn't that easy to catch.

Then the Poke Ball sat there jiggling on the dusty wooden floor, finally the red light had stopped blinking and the ball gave a satisfying click, proof the Pokémon had been captured.

Sasha eyed the red and white ball as if it may bite her.

Finally she said to Joy.

"Good luck, I'm not picking that up."


	13. Joy's Fiery Ambitions

"So what are you going to do with that thing?" Sasha asked when Joy's latest catch had finally been collected.

"What do you think I'm going to do with it," Joy replied as she punched the buttons on her Pokédex, "I'm going to transfer it to Prof. Oak; I think I'm going to use it and Saffron City at some point it may come in handy."

Sasha only nodded as they made their way towards the Pokémon center. They would rotate Pokémon again before heading up Route 8 towards Celadon City.

"Who are you keeping for the next gym battle?" Sasha asked, as Joy made her way towards the transfer console.

"Well," Joy said thoughtfully," the next gym leader is grass type, right? I could use practically anything, I may just use Charmeleon and Sparkplug."

"You know electric attacks are weak against grass attacks." Sasha reminded her.

"Sparkplug knows more than that, might just stick to normal attacks if I need to. What about you?"

Sasha frowned.

"What about me?"

"Didn't you try to challenge Erica before?"

"Well, yeah. The only other gym I managed to beat was south of Pallet on Cinnabar Island."

"A grass gym should be easy." Joy countered. "Erica has changed her dynamic since a lot of our parents were trainers she knows many more stronger attacks now; I think it's time you challenge her to a rematch," Joy responded firmly, "your Pokémon are stronger now and you got that kick butt Ekans you caught."

"I think it's trying to learn poison jab," Sasha said thoughtfully, " it's been doing a lot of stuff with its tail lately, but we're working on it." She replied proudly.

Joy ignored the fact her friend hadn't answered her question instead she turned to the videophone where she was calling Prof. Oak.

"Hey Prof., can you take care of my grass Pokémon and this Gastly? We are on our way to Celadon City."

"Absolutely, no problem Joy." The professor replied. "Are there any more Pokémon you want me to send you?"

"Not right now, thanks." Joy replied, "I'm rebuilding my team a little bit, at least for the next few gyms."

"Wonderful! I'll take care of your Pokémon, and call if you need anything else."

Joy nodded.

"I will."

After Joy had ended her call, she turned back to Sasha.

"By the way, you never answered my question. Are you going to challenge Erica?"

 

A short time later the girls were headed west; Joy on the lookout for fire type Pokémon.

As they traveled along, they battled the trainers they encountered, many of them were stronger than both girls had anticipated but most of the time they were victorious. It seemed they both had underestimated themselves.

"Well he went off crying like a baby!" Sasha exclaimed after she had beaten the latest trainer.

"Your Pokémon were faster and they were able to dodge the attacks," Joy replied, "your Ekans is almost as fast as Sparkplug."

"Yeah?" Sasha replied, "Well were still working on that poison jab aren't we buddy?"

"Ekans!" The large snake replied with a soft hiss.

They were halfway down the nearest path when Joy spotted a rustling in the bushes. There, in the tall grass was a small fluffy dog type Pokémon, when it saw them it growled softly.

"Are you sure you want to take this guy on, he looks pretty mad."

"We can take him," Joy said confidently, "come on out Drowzee."

Unfortunately Joy's catch plan didn't work out quite as she had planned. Within several minutes her Pokémon had vanished inside its poke ball and the Growlithe had run away disappearing into the bush.

"It used roar," Sasha commented, "it's probably their number one defense. Looks can be deceiving."

"Yeah, no kidding." Joy muttered as she put her Poke Ball back in her bag.

 

A little further up the path they located more Growlithe, there were several of them in a small knot in the bushes nearby, but one had wandered off and was studying them warily.

"Come on out Drowzee, let's try this again." Joy called, "Confusion!"

A purple wave surrounded the Pokémon and after several minutes it was knocked down, but attempted to stand; noticeably shaken. A spurt of fire shot from its mouth.

"Drowzee, Dodge!" Joy commanded.

The Growlithe charged, it's teeth bared. Joy thought fast.

"Drowzee, headbutt!"

It appeared to have worked and Joy use that momentum to her advantage.

"Drowzee, confusion!"

The other Pokémon appeared to be weakening and Joy took her chance. The poke ball hit the Pokémon and it disappeared in a flash of red light, then the ball jiggled several times before making a soft clicking noise.

"Gotcha!" Joy said in satisfaction. Then she turned to her other Pokémon. "Good job Drowzee, return."

"Nice one." Sasha said appreciatively. "At least you have a good start on that all fire team you want."

Joy grinned,

"One down."

 

Finally they arrived in Celadon City, it was enormous; much bigger than the small towns they had passed through on their journey.

"You know," Joy reflected, " I think it's time I make a call home. I have a little surprise for Mark."


	14. The Trainer Who Returned Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if it seems I have been neglecting this piece, but I've been crazy busy and working on other things. I'll try to update a little bit more in the next few weeks but I'll be pretty busy till the end of the month. More coming, I promise!
> 
> That out of the way, I wanted to focus this chapter more on Sasha's issues with gym battles and why she did what she did. This will be resolved in the next few chapters or so.

Joy's first stop after getting into town was the Pokémon center and after leaving her Pokémon in the capable hands of Nurse Joy she called home.

"Hello sweetheart?" Her mother answered. "You doing okay? Where are you?"

"Celadon City." Joy replied.

Her mother looked impressed.

"That far already? You managing okay?"

Joy sighed, pushing a strand of her dark brown hair behind her ear as she spoke.

"Yes mom, Sasha has been a great help."

"How are you gym battles going?" Her mother asked.

Joy held up her badge case.

"I got three badges already! I'm going for my fourth!"

"Wonderful!"

Then Joy's tone changed.

"Hey mom, my journey's going great and all, but that's not why I called. I want to talk to Mark, there's something I want to show him."

"You're in luck, he's home from school and just finished his homework." In the distance Joy heard her mother calling for her little brother.

"Mark your sister's on the phone!"

A few minutes later Mark appeared on the screen his dark hair akimbo and a huge grin on his face.

"Hey Joy!" He exclaimed, "You and Sasha doing okay?"

"Sure." Joy replied, "Hey I called because I have a surprise for you.

Joy watched her brother's eyes grew wide.

"Really? What is it?"

Then Joy let her Growlithe out of its poke ball while Sasha picked it up so it was visible from the video phone screen.

"Whoa! A Growlithe! You caught one?"

"Sure did." Joy replied, "I caught her on the way here."

"It's a girl?" Mark asked.

"Yep, Nurse Joy said so. If you're really good you can play with her when you see me, either when I come home or when you and mom come out to see me compete in the Pokémon League at Indigo Plateau."

"Cool!" Mark exclaimed. "I can't wait!" Then he scampered off. Joy heard her mother chuckle offscreen as she closed the call.

Following her call home, Joy and Sasha went their separate ways. Joy headed for the gym and Sasha headed for the large department store towards the west side the city.

When Joy arrived at the gym it was empty and she stood inside the arena for several minutes before someone noticed her.

"Hi," said a young woman coming out of the door on the far side of the gym, "are you here to battle Erica?"

"Yeah." Joy replied uncertainly.

"Sorry," the young woman replied, "she's not taking challengers today. She's busy in the greenhouse and teaching classes, also her prized Vileplume is sick. Come back tomorrow and maybe we'll talk."

Joy deflated, disappointed.

"Okay, thanks I'll come back tomorrow then." She turned to go.

 

She was just heading back towards the Pokémon center when she bumped into Sasha. Her friend was holding a soda in one hand and a paper bag in the other.

"Thought you were at the gym." Sasha looked confused.

"Erica is busy today, she's not taking challengers." Joy replied.

"Hey I got you some super potion, thought it may come in handy for your battle, and that department store has the best soda!"

"Thanks," Joy replied sighing, as she put the bag in her satchel, "not much we can do right now let's go back to the Pokémon center and come up with a plan B."

 

The next morning, Sasha and Joy returned to the gym. In anticipation of an upcoming battle Joy had made sure her Pokémon were well rested, and aside from some casual battling with Sasha the day before, she hadn't done much.

Today, however it seemed Erica was in residence and greeted them with a warm smile when they entered.

"Who's here to challenge me?" She asked.

"I am." Joy replied.

Erica turned to look at Sasha.

"What about you?" She asked.

"Oh, um, not today, thanks." Sasha muttered.

"Whenever you're ready then." Erica replied calmly.

"Your friend is a trainer is she not?" Erica asked Joy. Erica seemed full of energy. She was a slender woman in her early forties her graying hair tied up in a scarf on the top of her head.

Joy nodded.

"She is, she has some confidence issues she has to work through."

Erica paused.

"I see. Joy, if you don't mind I think I'll postpone our battle little bit longer. I think I want to talk your friend first."

Joy nodded automatically, she was disappointed, but she let the moment pass. Then she and Sasha changed places on the battlefield, Sasha standing uncertainly before the gym leader.

"Yes ma'am? You wanted to see me?"

"Sasha, come here."

Sasha approached, still looking as nervous as Joy ever seen her.

"Come on girls, let's go for a walk." So Sasha and Joy followed Erica out of the gym and into the adjoining greenhouse.

 

"Sasha," Erica asked, "do you like Pokémon?"

"Yeah, well of course I do! My Wartortle is my buddy!"

"Why are you so uncertain to engage in competitive battling than?"

Sasha shrugged.

"I guess I feel like I'm always mess up. I was going pretty good on my journey a while ago but then I lost here. I even beat the electric gym, but water is strong against electric."

"Where did you go after you left here?" Erica questioned.

"I went to Cinnabar Island, beat the gym there then returned home."

"Nothing about that battle restored your confidence?" Erica asked.

Again Sasha shrugged, staring at her sneakers.

"I feel like everyone sees me as weak, even Joy is a better trainer, and look at her!"

"Every trainer is different, I'm sure you have your own set of talents."

"She sells herself short!" Joy piped up, "She's neglecting to mention how many trainers she has beaten since coming here, and she has some really strong Pokémon."

"Well," Erica mused, "it seems the only way to settle this is with a gym battle. I'd like to see these strong Pokémon of yours."


	15. A Style All Her Own

A short time later Sasha was standing opposite Erica across the gym. Joy saw her friend grip the poke Ball in her hand and release it again. It had taken Sasha about 10 minutes, but fortunately Erica was patient and told her to take her time.

"Well, Sasha, are you ready?" Erica asked, a look of expectation brightened the older woman's face.

"I guess." Sasha mumbled, not looking very excited at all. She gripped the Poke Ball again.

"Well then, I'll go first." Erica replied, "We decided this is 3 on 3; when one person's Pokémon are all unable to battle the other wins."

Sasha nodded.

"Right."

"Come on out, Victreebel!"

Joy saw a look of determination cross her friend's face, then without hesitation Sasha called out:

"Go, Wartortle!"

"Victreebel, razor leaf!" Erica called serenely.

"Wartortle, skull bash!"

Joy watched with interest she knew the move "skull bash" did a lot of damage; a good first move.

"Good, Sasha," Erica replied calmly, "I don't see what you're so worried about, that was excellent! Victreebel, poison powder."

"Wartortle, withdraw!" Sasha responded quickly.

"Victreebel, vine whip!"

"Wartortle, Hydro pump!" Sasha called, "Let's go!"

Then Wartortle began to spin very fast, water spraying out from its shell under high pressure. The water hit the other Pokémon squarely knocking it backwards and across the battlefield. When the dust cleared it was unconscious.

"Good job." Erica replied, though she didn't look upset. "Perhaps you are a much better trainer than you realize."

They both recalled their Pokémon and Joy continued to watch the battle, curious about Sasha's progress.

"Weepinbell, go!" Erica called.

Sasha was just as decisive.

"Fearow, come on out!"

Several minutes later the bird Pokémon fluttered about the gym floor. Erica raised an eyebrow, but she didn't say anything. It may be wasn't the best choice Joy realized he, but whatever worked for Sasha was good enough.

"Fury attack!" Sasha called.

"Sleep powder." Erica called.

"Dodge and gust!" Sasha shot back.

"Good." Erica replied mildly.

"Weepinbell, vine whip!" Erica called.

Fearow dodged it easily, waiting for Sasha's next command.

"Fearow, gust!"

"Weepinbell, poison powder!"

"Oh no you don't!" Sasha shot back, "I'm ready this time! Fearow, mirror move!"

The bird Pokémon blew identical spores back towards its opponent. Joy knew this was enough to slow it down even if it was immune to its own poison.

"Vine whip," Erica called, "create some distance!"

"Fury attack!" Sasha called.

Joy knew the battle was over shortly after that, with enough moves plus slow down from the poison Sasha had the upper hand. She was doing things Joy didn't even know she knew how to do, but she did have a year more experience than Joy did.

"Two down, what you got this time! Whatever it is I'm ready!"

"Now that's what I want to hear!" Erica praised. She threw out her last poke ball. "Let's show her what we can do Vileplume!"

Joy saw Sasha raise a single Poke Ball to her lips. She looked like a pitcher about to throw a perfect strike. "I'm counting on you." She whispered. "Go, Ekans!"

The large purple snake exploded in a beam of red light. With fierce yellow eyes, it eyed its opponent, a large flower like Pokémon.

"Vileplume, poison powder!" Erica called.

"Ekans," Sasha ordered firmly, dodge and wrap!" Within seconds, the snake like Pokémon had its opponent in a tight grip. Vileplume struggled but couldn't break free.

"Vileplume, sleep powder." Erica responded calmly.

"Come on, Ekans, shake it off!" Sasha called, "You can do it!"

Erica looked impressed.

"Impressive, I see your skills have grown. Your Ekans is strong."

"I'm not done yet." Sasha murmured, "Ekans, bite!"

The monster's long fangs sank into the soft body of its opponent. Joy had a feeling that if Vileplume could speak it would have been screaming in agony.

"Vileplume, no!" Erica exclaimed.

"Ekans, let's finish it off, poison jab!"

In one swift motion the snake hissing, it sank its poisonous fangs deeper, several minutes later the opposing Pokémon was unconscious on the gym floor.

"Vileplume is unable to battle, the victory goes to the challenger, Sasha." The referee called.

Reluctant challenger, Joy thought with a smile, but victorious.

Erica and Sasha shook hands in the middle of the field.

"Perhaps you are stronger than you believe." Erica murmured, "As proof of your victory I present you with the Rainbow badge. Congratulations."

Sasha looked surprised at her own accomplishment as she looked down at the badge in her hand. She was still admiring it when Joy spoke up.

"What about our battle?"

"I'll battle you tomorrow." Erica answered, "So know your strategy and get a good night's sleep, I won't go easy on you."

Joy grinned. She was already forming her strategy and she knew exactly which Pokémon she was going to use.

 

"That was amazing!" Joy exclaimed as she and Sasha walked back to the Pokémon center.

"Yeah, I guess." Sasha replied, still sounding slightly stunned.

"You finally have the Rainbow badge."

"So what about you?" Sasha asked, "What are you going to do? Erica's Pokémon are pretty tough."

"I have a plan." Joy replied, I think I'll get some practice in before we go to bed, but first let's get something to eat, I'm starved!"


	16. Fire In the Bag

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry for the long wait between chapters I've been pretty busy as of late and have a lot of activities right now which is leaving me little time to write, but I try to write when I can.
> 
> I chose Neena as the name of Joy's Growlithe because it was, until recently a popular location for Pokémon Go (Neena, being the name of a city in Wisconsin.)

Joy spent all of her spare time training for her upcoming battle. In the back of the Celadon Pokémon center, she put her team through their paces.  
For her battle team, Joy had chosen Charmeleon, Growlithe, and Pidgey since they were the best Pokémon she had to deal damage based on type advantage. She would've used Sparkplug accept electrical attacks had little effect on grass types.

The female Growlithe she had caught proved to be an essential asset to her team. She called the Pokémon Neena, after a city she had read about.  
"Neena, tackle then bite!" Joy called. The Pokémon was fast, which would make her a good battler. Several minutes later Neena came and sat at her feet looking extremely proud of herself.

"Charmeleon, Ember, and Pidgey, use quick attack and wing attack after that!"

Several minutes later a shower of sparks rain down on them all.

"Good job guys." Joy praised, "You ready for tomorrow?"

The Pokémon chattered. Meanwhile, Joy let out the rest of her team to celebrate their good work. Across the arena, Sasha was watching as Joy finished up her friend applauded.  
"You weren't kidding, you are ready to take on Erica, that fourth badge is just as good as yours."

Joy grinned at her friend as she turned her wheelchair, and Neena, not quite ready for the bonding time to end, jumped in her lap.  
"Not quite ready to go back into your ball, are you?" Joy said with a chuckle scratching her behind the ears.

"Growl..." Neena replied softly.

Just as Joy was doing a headcount and returning her team to their balls, Pidgey began to glow and Joy knew instantly it was ready to evolve.  
The Pokémon swelled and when the light dissipated a large powerful looking bird was in its place a plume of feathers growing off the top of its head.

"Well you're definitely ready for Erica now." Sasha replied mildly, "Guess Pidgetto is too."

In response, the newly evolved Pokémon cawed, flapping its powerful wings; Joy saw a definite glint in its golden eye.

 

The following morning Joy was in the gym facing Erica. Surrounded by her numerous plants and Pokémon they prepared for their battle.

"Well Joy," Erica began pleasantly, "are you ready?"

"You bet!" Joy exclaimed, "I'm ready as I'll ever be! I already have the Pokémon I'm going to use."

Erica chuckled.

"Good. I have mine ready as well, I think I'll use the same I used with your friend; after all, they are my best and most reliable."

Joy released her Pokémon first. For her first battle she chose Neena, and despite being her newest catch Joy knew the Pokémon was eager to battle and prove herself.

"Go, Weepinbell."

The thing that Joy liked about Neena was her speed. She dodged Erica's first attack completely missing the sleep powder that was thrown her way.

"Ember!" Joy commanded.

Her first attack knocked Weepinbell back, but it was far from deterred.

"Poison powder!" Erica commanded.

"Bite, now!" Joy gave her next command quickly.

Unfortunately, her command wasn't fast enough and the attack hit its mark. Joy knew the attack would slow Neena down, but she figured she would attack while she could.

"Come on, Neena!" Joy mumbled, "bite followed by ember!"

Eventually Joy realized, while effective, the attack had done little damage.

"Okay, Neena, return."

Erica nodded.

"A wise choice. What's your next move Joy?"

"Go, Charmeleon!"

"Weepinbell, wrap!"

Joy, however, had already planned her next move. "Charmeleon, fire blast!"

Almost immediately the other Pokémon loosened its grip.

Erica nodded.

"Well played."

"I'm not done yet." Joy murmured.

" Vileplume," Erica instructed, "I need your help!"

Joy decided to change her strategy. Instead of attacking head on with a directly weak attack she decided to use something other than a fire move. Sometimes the best strategy was to wear the Pokémon down by taking away its energy a little at a time. She attacked with a series of moves using cut and slash; the latter by far doing more damage than any average move.

Despite its weakening attacks Vileplume couldn't keep up and was soon barely hanging on.

Okay Charmeleon," Joy instructed firmly, "finish it off with fire blast."

Several seconds later Erica was recalling her second Pokémon.

"Well you're giving me a run for my money." Erica commented, "I'm impressed, you clearly thought through your strategy."  
For her last Pokémon Joy recalled Charmeleon and sent out Pidgetto. Since the Pokémon was newly evolved she knew it was very strong, and that worked to her advantage.

Erica raised her eyebrows.

"Interesting choice. Let's go, Victreebel! Now, vine whip!"

Victreebel attempted to knock Pidgetto out of the air, but the other Pokémon merely dodged soaring higher.

Pidgetto, gust!" Joy called.

Now it was Erica's turn as she struggled to regain control of the battle.

"Victreebel, razor leaf!"

"Use razor wind, then quick attack!" Joy countered. "Knock it away!"

"Sleep powder."

"Dodge," Joy instructed, "wing attack!"

"Vine whip!" Erica ordered.

"Get out of the way!" Joy yelled. "Come at it from above, razor wind!"

Joy knew the exact moment the battle was hers and she was pleased to see the look of shock on Erica's face.

"Well that was not what I expected. You have a unique and refreshing strategy, though your style is relatively straightforward."

Neither of them needed the referee's call telling the outcome of the match, for it had a very clear winner.

"Congratulations Joy, you deserve this. May I present you with the Rainbow Badge." The older woman smiled as she handed Joy the small multicolored badge.

"Thanks." Joy murmured, looking down at the badge. I actually learned a lot… Things I can use later and in the league."

Erica gave a wan smile.

"I can only imagine. You have a bright future ahead of you, that's for sure."


	17. For a Drink of Water

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A filler fast-paced chapter of a small adventure for Sasha and Joy before their next couple of battles.

As they continued along Joy stared down at her newest badge as it glimmered in her case.

"Keep looking like that annual crash into the nearest bush." Sasha teased.

Their trip Saffron City was relatively short since the city was only a few miles from the underground passage that led to Celadon City a few miles the opposite way.  
"We have to go through the guardhouse, according to this." Sasha said looking up from the guidebook she was currently reading.

"Oh," Joy exclaimed, "that's right up here, just at the end of this path."

That, however was just the beginning of their adventure. Despite being unlocked and accessible the girls were stopped by a burly looking guard behind the guardhouse desk.

"You can't pass here." He said gruffly.

"But how are we supposed to get to the next city?" Sasha exclaimed.

"You can't get by here unless… I sure am thirsty maybe if you go and get me a drink I'll let you by."

Sasha and Joy exchanged a look.

"There's a vending machine in Celadon, in the department store, I saw it when I went shopping there the other day," Sasha said thoughtfully, "we can go there."

"But we just came from there!" Joy exclaimed, her hands still on her wheelchair wheels.

"And how do you expect we get our next gym badge?" Sasha countered.

Joy sighed, slumping in her chair. "Fair enough, come on, let's go."

The trip back to Celadon was uneventful. For the first time Joy really looked around the city, she hadn't seen much except the Pokémon center and the gym, Sasha had done more than she had.

The department store Sasha had mentioned was a large building in the center of town. It was much bigger than the standard Poke Mart with multiple floors and all sorts of supplies for Pokémon trainers and breeders.

"We can take the elevator," Sasha explained, "the vending machine is on the roof and there's a nice little café up there too."

Joy followed her friend as she punched the top button on the elevator. The doors opened onto a breezy, opened area and everything was just as Sasha had described it.

"I'll get the water for that guy, and let's grab something to eat, unless there's anything else you need."

"I got to restock a few potions, particularly after my battle with Erica, but that can wait until after we're done here."

Sasha nodded.

"Right. Just keep a table for us, I'll be right back."

Sasha returned several minutes later holding a bottle of water, a lemonade, and a soda.

"One for each of us, and one for the guard guy." Smiling, she put the water in her bag.

Sasha frowned as she sat down looking carefully at Joy's face.

"You seem quiet, quieter than usual, what's on your mind?"

"Just something I've been thinking about." Joy murmured.

"Well let's grab a snack and you can tell me about it." Sasha replied firmly. Then she disappeared into the crowd again and returned a short time later with plates bearing meat pies and sushi.

"What's on your mind?"

"I know they have evolution stones here," Joy murmured, "I was thinking of getting an evolution stone so I can evolve Sparkplug."

Sasha raised her eyebrows as she popped a piece of sushi into her mouth.

"Now?"

"Not now," Joy replied with a frown, "but later, before we get to the league, he has much more to learn before he's ready for evolution."

Sasha bit into a meat pie, and swallowed before continuing.

"You know, evolution items aren't cheap, the evolution stones alone run 1200 coins, sometimes 1500. Do you have enough?"

Joy bit into her own meat pie, crumbs falling onto her plate.

"I think so… With the advance from mom and the money I've been earning from the battles I've been winning."

"I can give you 250." Sasha replied flatly.

The girls shook hands.

"Deal."

A short time later Joy came out of the department store with a small bag in her satchel. Inside was a thunder stone. She only hoped Sparkplug was worthy of that when the time came.

The trip back to the guard house was relatively quick, minus a few bumps (sometimes literally) along the way. The guard looked up when Joy and Sasha entered.

"Oh, it's you, come back have you?"

It was Sasha who spoke up.

"We brought you water." She held out the can to him and his face brightened. For a moment Joy thought he looked less tired and harassed.

"You… Went all the way…? Thanks," he finally finished, "that was really thoughtful."

Sasha shrugged and grinned. Joy watched as the guard drained the can in several large gulps.

"Thanks again. I see no reason why you can't go through."

Sasha and Joy looked at each other.

"Really?" Sasha asked, "Thanks!"

"No problem," the guard replied, as he looked a lot less intimidating now; and much more relaxed.

Letting out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding, Joy followed Sasha towards the other end of the guardhouse. Beyond, was the sunshine and hustle and bustle of the city. From the guardhouse it was only a few more miles to Saffron City.

"I think we should let the Pokémon rest before taking on the gym. In fact the city has two gyms," Sasha explained as she read from her guidebook, "well, one is a dojo for fighting Pokémon, but I figure it will be good practice, don't you think?"

Joy nodded. It had been a long day and she didn't feel like talking, she was looking for to a hot shower, and a warm bed at the Pokémon center.

 

Later that evening as Joy let her hair dry after her shower she watched Sparkplug and Neena chase each other around the battlefield, each admitting either sparks and small flames as they continued their made up game. It was back to work tomorrow, she thought, back to training for their next gym battle and taking on the dojo north of the city would be interesting indeed.


	18. An Electrifying Battle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is taking so long to update, but I am still working on it; I just can't commit to having a chapter of every week particularly since these chapters can get kind of long.

If Joy thought Celadon City was impressive, it was nothing compared to Saffron City. While Celadon City was definitely on a "big city" scale, Saffron City was much more industrial, maybe that had something to do with the big company in town, Sliph Co, which made many high-tech Pokémon related products.

"I say after we rest the Pokémon center, we go check out the dojo." Sasha suggested.

"Yeah, okay." Joy replied. "I need to let the Pokémon out anyway."

"Who are you using for your next gym battle? I've heard this leader Sabrina is really tough, and she was tough even when there were trainers coming through here 20 years ago."

Joy shrugged.

"Well that just means we'll have to work harder."

 

They were heading towards the dojo when they heard voices on the next street over. When they rounded the corner there were three boys talking and laughing. They were standing in front of the Silph Co. building just to the side of the door where several neatly dressed men and women were filing past. After studying the group of figures Joy realized it was the boy Jeremy from the SS Anne and his friends. As they walked by Jeremy looked up.

"Hey, don't I know you? Didn't we meet somewhere?"

"Yeah," Joy replied, "I'm Joy. We met on the SS Anne in Vermillion City."

Jeremy's face brightened.

"Oh yeah! I think you owe me a battle."

"I would say so," Joy retorted, "since your Pokémon nearly electrocuted me."

Jeremy had the grace to look chagrined, he rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Yeah, we've been working on that. Raichu's much better, I swear!"

"All right," Joy agreed, "prove it. I have some rotations I have to make to my team, but then you meet me back here in an hour."

Jeremy grinned.

"Deal!"

Joy muttered to herself as she made her way into the Pokémon center.

Sasha frowned as she glanced at her friend.

"What are you muttering about?"

"What Pokémon to use against Jeremy." Joy replied.

"Well he's an electric trainer, isn't he, so I would go with a ground type or something that can move pretty darn fast."

Joy smirked, her friend had a point.

She decided she had to start training for the next gym, so rotating her Pokémon was necessary. For her team she chose the following Pokémon:

Charmeleon,Neena, Sparkplug, (for speed) Geodude and Drowzee. She figured the psychic type would throw Jeremy off, it would also benefit her to train the Pokémon before her battle with the next gym leader. Then she remembered the Diglett she had caught outside of Vermillion City; the Pokémon was weak, but that was nothing a little training and experience couldn't fix. She could only hope.

It was shortly before noon when Joy and Jeremy returned to their meeting place with their friends in tow.

We're going three on three, right?"

Joy nodded

"Right."

"You ready to lose?" Jeremy challenged, "I've gotten a lot stronger since the last time we met."

Joy smirked, as she took out her Pokémon and shifted in her chair.

"No way! Bring it on!"

Jeremy's first Pokémon was Magnamite, but Joy was ready for him. She started off strong and sent out Charmeleon.

"Fire blast!" She called.

"Thunder shock!"

"Dodge, and rage! Let's go!"

"It's gonna take a while." Jeremy called, " Magnamite, thunder!"

"Come on Charmeleon, you can take it!" Joy called, "Hang in there!"

Several minutes later, a fire blast shot from Charmeleon's mouth and the flame on its tail seemed to triple in size. Despite getting a direct hit that had clearly weakened her opponent, Joy knew Charmeleon was getting tired.

"Come on Charmeleon, time for a good rest, return."

"Giving up?" Jeremy teased.

"No, wait to you see this one! Come on out Neena!"

Jeremy's eyebrows rose a fraction, clearly the Pokémon wasn't that intimidating.

"Careful, looks can be deceiving." Joy warned. "Come on, let's go!"

"Magnamite, thunder shock." He sounded bored.

Neena, however, seem to know exactly what Joy expected of her and moved easily to the side.

"Ember, and move that into fire spin, now change your angle. We almost got it!"

Several minutes later, her opponent fell to the ground with a dull thud.

Behind her, Sasha cheered.

"You'll have to do better than that." Joy called.

"You have an interesting training and battling style I'll give you that." Jeremy replied mildly, "It's like type advantage means nothing to you."

"My Pokémon got heart." Joy replied.

Jeremy grunted.

"Right."

He tossed out another poke ball. "Electabuzz… Let's go!"

"Neena, you want to keep going?" Joy asked.

"Growl…" The small dog Pokémon replied.

This proved to be a mistake, however, Jeremy's Pokémon was fast, faster than Joy had expected and as quickly as Neena dodged, she kept getting hit. Several minutes later she was limp and barely conscious.

Joy gritted her teeth.

"Return." She responded quietly, already planning her next move. Charmeleon, one of her strongest Pokémon was too weak… It was time to change her strategy a bit.  
"Geodude, do your stuff!"

Joy knew her best bet was to wear down her opponent, and a ground type could take a lot of damage. Right now her best strategy was to wait for Jeremy to attack and as she expected he did exactly that. He had changed his strategy to thinking he could work with speed since Electabuzz could learn a normal type attack like quick attack. This, however did little damage, but Joy was ready.

"Geodude, rock throw!"

The attack had done a lot of damage, but not enough. At this point, Jeremy was a sitting duck, since none of his strong attacks would do much damage. Joy thought self-destruct, was overkill and she would only use it if she absolutely had to. For now, she stuck to using rock throw, so no matter where Electabuzz was it was always under attack. Finally, the Pokémon staggered and collapsed.

Jeremy looked thunderstruck.

"Well okay then, you've made your point." He recalled the fainted Pokémon.

Finally it was down to the last round. Jeremy called out his Raichu and Joy called out Charmeleon, who had plenty of time to rest. She had to finish this battle quickly so she could take her Pokémon to Nurse Joy down the road.

Joy knew Raichu packed a punch but she was ready for that. She used ember to knock her opponent off balance before following it up with a series of scratch and slash attacks. The only bad part of this strategy was they sometimes missed when Jeremy changed strategy and used speed against her.

Then Joy went back to using fire attacks using rage to build up Charmeleon's attack power. Neither of the Pokémon were giving up and it was hard to say who would win. It was a series of rapidfire attacks, one right after the other; Joy could almost hear their friends waiting with baited breath to see who would win the match. Finally, both Raichu and Charmeleon fell forward… The match was a draw.

Jeremy and Joy's gloves made a soft smacking noise as they shook hands.

"Good match." Jeremy replied. "I guess all we can do is keep getting stronger."

Joy nodded.

"Absolutely!"

"Well I guess this is goodbye, for now." Jeremy replied, as he swung his satchel over one shoulder. If I don't see you again I guess I'll see you at the league."

"You going?" Joy asked, surprised.

Jeremy nodded, grinning.

"You bet!"

"How many badges you got so far?" Joy asked, knowing Jeremy wasn't so stuck up he wouldn't tell her.

"Four." Jeremy replied easily, "I still got to challenge Sabrina here… But she's a tough gym leader and that won't be easy. I'm going to do a little bit more training before I go to the gym."

Joy nodded.

"Yeah, me too."

"Well, see you later." Jeremy waved as he and his friends went their separate ways. Joy watched them until they had disappeared before she turned to Sasha.

"Come on, let's get Neena to Nurse Joy, she got hurt pretty bad, and after all that battling I think I've worked up quite an appetite!"


	19. Fight Practice

While Neena recovered from the battle Joy and Sasha ate a late lunch.

"So what are we going to do now?" Sasha asked as she dug into a noodle bowl.

Joy shrugged a shoulder.

"Go check out that dojo, I guess." She replied, "I need to start training that Diglett."

"Does it know dig?" Sasha asked.

"Yeah but," Joy made a face, "it's endurance isn't very good." As she spoke Joy shoved another forkful of noodles into her mouth.

"Well it's not like Diglett is that strong anyway." Sasha commented.

" Gee, thanks," Joy replied, "that makes me feel much better about taking on the strongest trainer I've ever encountered with it."   
A short time later, Nurse Joy emerged with Neena, who bounded out of her arms and onto Joy's lap.

"Well, good to see you too," Joy commented cheerfully, "you look a lot better than you did when we got here."

"Grow-lithe!" Neena replied happily.

"So what are you going to do?" Joy asked Sasha. "You challenging the dojo too?"

"I think so…" Sasha replied, a pensive look on her face. "I was thinking we could tagteam it. There's a lot of trainers and there's no way we can both get through them in one go."

Joy nodded, Sasha had a point.

Her friend continued.

"I was thinking every time we beat a trainer the other will go heal the Pokémon, and whoever still has Pokémon left keeps battling. That way we can keep going; you know, keep rotating Pokémon as they faint and get healed."

Joy pursed her lips.

"It might work…" She said slowly, "but we are in trouble if too many of our Pokémon get injured at the same time."

"Alright," Sasha agreed, "I say we do a few practice battles before we challenge the dojo tomorrow."

"But we need a couple more trainers." Joy pointed out.

"Then I'll see if anyone else is interested." Sasha replied without missing a beat. "I'll meet you out back in 20 minutes."

 

Sasha returned several minutes later with two bored looking boys in tow.

"This is Charlie and Sal." She announced without preamble as if she had planned it.

Joy nodded in greeting. If there was one thing she liked about Sasha it was that her friend didn't beat around the bush. A good quality in a Pokémon trainer she thought.

Once they were out on the battlefield Joy studied her opponents. Charlie was the epitome of something that had been squeezed out of a tube of toothpaste, tall and lanky was slightly pinched features. He had darting blue eyes like a small mammal and skin smattered with freckles. Joy silently hoped he wasn't as much of a pushover as he appeared to be.

Sal, on the other hand, was shorter and darker. He had a pensive look about him, like he was always plotting his next move.

This was going to be an interesting series of battles. She thought.

Once Sasha had explained the rules she had devised and the boys had agreed to them, the battles began. First, it was Charlie versus Sasha, with most of her team she was able to beat him, though her Ekans and his Raticate were fairly evenly matched, ending the last round in a draw.

"The match is a draw, but Sasha wins the battle!" Sal announced.

Then it was Joy's turn. Since they had no one to referee they had to take turns battling and refereeing. The next round was Joy versus Sal, who turned out to be a formidable opponent. Sal was clearly very smart even though he only appeared to be 10 or 11 years old. He had a well-balanced team which included normal and electric types h strongest Pokémon was a Pikachu, which Joy knew not to underestimate.

To avoid the problems she had had battling Jeremy, she started with Geodude but then switched halfway using Diglett. This would've worked except Sal figured out her strategy and by the time she resurfaced he was ready with an attack, which knocked her Pokémon out easily.  
Joy growled under her breath, she wasn't done yet! She used the same strategy she had used against Jeremy, using her fire Pokémon weaken and wear down her opponent. This worked for a while, and she managed to knock out Sal's Pikachu in the process. There was a lot of back and forth but finally the match ended giving Joy the advantage.

Sal shook her hand.

"A good battle," he assessed, "I learned a lot."

They did a couple more training battles with Sasha battling Sal and Joy battling Charlie. The matches ended about how she is expected, Sal beat Sasha, though she put up a good fight, and Joy beat Charlie, though she had a bit of trouble with his Raticate.

"It's my strongest Pokémon!" Charlie announced proudly, "I've trained it from a Rattata, ever since it learned hyper fang we've been unstoppable!"

"Yeah, just don't let it go to your head." Sal commented.

 

Afterwards, joy and Sasha continued discussing their plans for the upcoming battle.

"You ready for this?" Sasha asked, "The guys at the dojo were going to be a lot stronger. Do you have a plan?"

Joy nodded.

"I'm using Geodude, Diglett and Pidgetto. The definitely my strongest as far as type advantage, and Pidgetto can go high and fast."

"I'll probably use Sandslash, Fearow and Ekans." Sasha decided.

"Some of these guys are bound to have a full team, we can't do 3 on 6."

"True," Sasha replied, as she kicked at a stone as they walked along, "but you have Charmeleon and Neena you can always use them," Sasha shrugged, "I'll just figure it out when I get there."

 

The following morning, the girls headed for the dojo, the small building next to the league gym . The dojo was and was not what Joy expected, the building made of stone and wood paneling; it would have looked comfortable if it hadn't been for the intimidating, burly trainers standing at various places in the middle of the compound.

"You're going to have to take us all on," the first trainer announced gruffly, "in the end you face our master."

"You'll be facing Masters of the martial arts." Another cut in. He had dark squinty eyes and a sneering face.

Sasha, however, only squared her shoulders.

"Come on, Joy, let's do this, just like we practiced."


	20. How Do You Beat Sabrina?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I've been out of the loop, here's the next chapter

A little over an hour later Joy and Sasha were exiting the dojo.

"Yeah-ha!" Sasha exclaimed as she punched the air. "We got em! Doubled them up, laid them out!"

"Don't forget," Joy reminded her as they maneuvered down the small path, "we still have to face Sabrina, and she isn't going to be easy."

Sasha paused in her victory dance.

"Yeah, I know." She replied, immediately sobering. "So, you know what you're going to do?"

"Yeah," Joy replied, " but it's not the Pokémon I'm going to use that and worried about, it's what my strategy's going to be. I definitely need more training. Next stop is going to be Route 8, I have to train Drowzee and Diglett."

"Alright," Sasha replied, "we can stop and rest at the Pokémon center then we should backtrack and train for the rest of the afternoon; try to come up with a strategy."

Joy grinned.

"Sounds like a plan to me!"

 

Following their lunch at the Pokémon center Sasha and Joy set out for the outskirts of Saffron City. Once they found an open field they went to work. They alternated between battling wild Pokémon and battling each other, sometimes having their own Pokémon battle each other just to practice their skills.

"Come on, Drowzee, you have to be more accurate than that!" Joy called, " Your confusion and hypnosis are the only things that are going slow a psychic Pokémon down."

At the moment, Drowzee was practicing its psychic attacks on Pidgetto, but kept missing, finally the rays hit their mark and the large bird fell out the air, sound asleep.

"Diglett, keep working on that dig, try to slow down Sasha's Ekans! Let's go!"

"Ekans, poison jab!" Sasha called!

Joy almost laughed.

"Not going to work!" Just as she spoke her Diglett dug around the opposing Pokémon making it fall into a large hole.

"Hey, no fair!" Sasha whined. "What are you going to do? Dig holes and make all of Sabrina's Pokémon fall into them?"

"Maybe not, but at least while underground the psychic attacks can't hit." Joy replied, then she motioned to Drowzee, "come on, Drowzee show Sasha what I mean, use confusion on Diglett, and Diglett you use dig."

The demonstration worked in theory, but Joy knew her Pokémon needed more work, seeing as Diglett could barely survive one hit. How was she ever going to beat Sabrina?

The morning of her battle with Sabrina, Joy assessed her Pokémon. Had she been able to stand and walk she would have been pacing.   
  
"Okay, guys, you ready?"  
  
There was chatter from her Pokémon.

Joy continued:

"Now, Drowzee, Diglett, I'm counting on you. You're the heart and soul of this battle team. We need to show Sabrina what were made of, show her psychic Pokémon there's more to battling than pure power."

"Drow-zee…" The large, yellow psychic Pokémon rumbled.

Diglett popped out of its hole.

"Diglett-di!" It piped.

"Well, I'll take that as a yes."

Joy turned to see Sasha, only partially dressed, walking out of the Pokémon center in her bathrobe.

"Guess so."

"Well can we at least have breakfast first?" Sasha asked, a hint of a smile turning up the corners of her mouth. "I doubt the gym is even open yet."  
As they walked back into the Pokémon center Sasha looked down at her clothes. "At least let me get dressed. No one can take on Sabrina dressed like this!"

The gym, from the outside looked like any other league gym, but the gym on the inside was a completely different story. It was a maze of rooms. Confused, Joy and Sasha spoke to the man in the front the gym.

"Excuse me, but we're here to battle Sabrina. Where is she?"

"To battle Sabrina you must find your way to her." The older man answered, ""she is in her meditation room, but which room that is I will not tell you." He gestured to the maze of rooms. "You start here." He gestured to a pad on the floor. "The first teleportation pad, it will take you to the first room."

Nonplussed, Joy and Sasha did as they were told. It was like they were in a giant pinball machine going back-and-forth between the rooms courtesy of the teleportation pads. Each room had a series of trainers which even with all their Pokémon Sasha and Joy barely managed to beat.

"Where is Sabrina?" Joy kept asking. She was getting tired of these games.

Finally, they emerged in another room, but this one was dark and seemingly deserted.

Suddenly a voice from the darkness made them both jump.

"So you wish to challenge me. Who of you am I battling first?"

Joy turned around, and there was Sabrina. She was slightly younger than Joy expected, but older at the same time; there was something about her eyes which made Joy slightly unnerved.

Joy spoke up. "Me."

Sabrina looked almost bored.

"Challenge me if you must, but I will prove to you why I have power of bending the mind."

Again, Joy was unnerved, but she stuck to her resolve. She squared her shoulders despite the fact that she was sitting down.

Here goes nothing. She thought.

The battle was the fastest gym battle Joy had ever experienced, it seemed to she couldn't keep up with Sabrina's rapid fire attacks and even Drowzee was no match for Sabrina. Eventually Joy was down to her last Pokémon, while Sabrina had barely used two. Finally, Pidgetto was collapsed on the floor. A voice that seemed to issue from the air around them concluded:

"All of the challenger's Pokémon are unable to battle, the match goes to the gym leader, Sabrina."


	21. A Change in the Lineup

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for updates being all over the place. I hit a bit of a writer's block with the story a few weeks ago and have been trying to fix it. This chapter is a little shorter than I would've liked but I think it illustrates where the characters are going well.

Disheartened, and in a state of shock, Joy and Sasha returned to the Pokémon center. After healing their Pokémon they didn't quite know what to do; they didn't want to go back to their room and they didn't want to talk to people, a steady stream of trainers was coming in and out of the center as evening approached.

Finally, after some time, Sasha finally spoke, the girls were seated in a quiet corner of the center.

"It was like she wiped the floor with us." She said in a hollow voice, "Or, well, you."

"All we can do is keep trying things." Joy replied, with much more bravado than she felt.

"Yeah… There's got to be a hole in her defenses somewhere."

For the first time in a long time Joy pulled out her Pokémon textbooks she had since she was a kid. While they showed the basics on every type Pokémon and type they also showed type advantages and battle strategies. She had been studying them since before she was able to have a Pokémon of her own; pretty much since she learned how to read.  
Brute strength didn't seem to work with Sabrina, but then all she did was use one type of move… That had to be her weakness, but Joy wasn't quite sure how.

Over the next several days, Sasha and Joy worked on their battle strategies, but Joy changed her Pokémon with every turn to see if some were more effective than others. She changed to starting her line up with Charmeleon, but used attacks like seismic toss and slash.

"If Charmeleon does not evolve by the end of this I've done my job wrong." Joy said grimly.

"Well I think after beating her you should deserve it." Sasha replied as she put Sandslash through its paces. She looked at the Pokémon in satisfaction. "I think I'll start with him. If we're dealing more damage than she can put out maybe that will help."

Joy looked over their Pokémon, who seemed just as determined as they were. Well, she thought, a least it was a step in the right direction.

For the next several weeks Joy and Sasha alternated between training and battling, if one was training the other was at the gym trying to win the gym badge, but more often than not this ended in another loss. After that, they returned to their lineup and trying something else.

Joy knew she was on the right track because Sabrina's Pokémon had gone down slightly faster, and she hadn't gotten completely pounded by Sabrina's Alakazam.  
"Getting there." She told Sasha after her latest attempt. "Diglett needs work, but it's attack is getting better."

"I'm working on that Caterpie I'm training," Sasha replied, "it just evolved so I should have a Butterfree really soon, I'm also working on teaching Sandslash to use dig."  
Joy nodded in satisfaction.

"Good. We have to train harder, and come up with new strategies; that's all we can do. There's got to be a way to beat Sabrina, we can't get to the Pokémon league without a badge from her."

For Joy, the breakthrough came almost after a month in Saffron City. She figured everyone in the gym was probably getting tired of them, but she didn't care.  
"That's it!" She exclaimed, one afternoon while training out back near the Pokémon center.

Sasha looked up from where she was working with her Pokémon on the other side of the battlefield.

"What's it?" She asked.

"I think I figured out how we can beat Sabrina!" Then Joy explained what she had figured out, both from training, battling, and research.

"Grand type works best against psychic, but Sabrina on her own is very predictable. The trick is to be able to change Pokémon fast enough so she can't put all of her damage on you at the same time."

"Then we have to slow them down." Sasha added, "We can definitely do that."

Joy nodded.

"You can't do that if her Pokémon are constantly recovering." Joy cut in.

"We have to go on the offensive," Sasha explained, warming to her subject, "put out more damage than she is… Before her Pokémon have time to recover."

Joy looked satisfied.

"Exactly!"

When Joy looked back at her friend and their Pokémon around them, she was smiling.

"Those badges are as good as ours!"

Feeling more optimistic than they had in over a month the girls high-fived. It felt good to be moving forward.


	22. The One, Two Punch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost completely forgot about this chapter! Yikes! I wrote it a few weeks ago when I had a brainstorm about how to finish the battle with Sabrina. Enjoy!

Joy held her head high as she and Sasha made their way once again to the Saffron City gym. She felt confident this time she could defeat Sabrina, at least this time she had a bulletproof strategy.

She felt no uncertainty moving on to the transfer pads as they took the now familiar path to Sabrina. Once again, Sabrina was waiting for them.

"Back again?" She responded calmly, "I must say, you are the most determined trainer I have ever come across."

It seemed Sabrina wasn't much into talking this time. Joy only shifted to retrieve two poke balls from her back before turning to face Sabrina again. Sasha was a few feet away, watching anxiously.

"Kadabra…" Sabrina called out her first Pokémon, almost lazily.

This time, Joy was ready for her.

"Right! Charmeleon, let's do this! Charmeleon, slash!"

"Kadabra, teleport!" Sabrina called.

The Pokémon seemed to flicker in the air for a moment then continued to solidify, the attack, such as it was, had failed.

"What?" Sabrina murmured.

"Charmeleon, slash!"

Joy kept up her barrage of attacks until it was obvious Kadabra was tired and wounded. It seemed its attacks were becoming less and less effective.  
Finally, Joy recalled Charmeleon. Then she went into the second part of her plan.

"Diglett, come on out."

Sabrina had also recalled her own Pokémon, and called out Alakazam; her strongest Pokémon.

"Diglett, dig!" Joy instructed.

This had the exact effect Joy had hoped for, the attack completely missed, sparing her Pokémon the powerful hit, and as a result the recoil rebounded upon Alakazam.

Sasha cheered, and Sabrina set her jaw.

"Well, creative and impressive." She responded mildly.

Joy kept this up until it was obvious her opponent was very weak. Meanwhile, Diglett had hardly taken any damage because it kept going underground. Eventually Alakazam, staggered and collapsed. Satisfied, Joy recalled her Pokémon.

Sabrina's next Pokémon was Hypno. Having evolved one herself, Joy was familiar with how it attacked, though each Pokémon, as an individual, was different.

Once again, she started out with Charmeleon putting out as much damage as she could, when she could get the attacks in, she used seismic toss, which Charmeleon had learned a few months ago. It was a heavy hitting attack which was fairly effective. This time when she sent out Diglett she changed her strategy. Instead of lying in wait she had Diglett dig several small holes to confuse and disorient the larger Pokémon; even the hypnotic attacks were missing, which seemed to irritate Sabrina.

Eventually, this seemed to wear Hypno down and it staggered and fell; its pendulum it constantly held going sideways as it collapsed.

"Way to go Diglett!" Joy cheered.

"Diglett di, diglett di!" The small ground type Pokémon trilled. It seemed very proud of itself.

By now, Sabrina was getting desperate. She was down to her last Pokémon and that Pokémon was very weak, so she had few options.

This time Joy knew she could get Sabrina with only a few hits, so she only took out Charmeleon.

"Kadabra, use recover!" Sabrina called.

The psychic Pokémon was able to heal itself, but only to a point. Joy knew even that took energy.

"Charmeleon, slash."

By now, even Charmeleon getting tired, but Joy knew using her other Pokémon would be a waste of time even on an opponent so weak. Just to win the last round was about to end in a draw. Charmeleon seemed to glow and the flame on its tail swelled. Joy knew this was rage which increased a Pokémon's attack power.

As Charmeleon continued to attack, it once again began to glow, but this time Joy knew it wasn't powering up, but evolving.

Everyone in the gym watched in awe and several moments later a Charizard was standing in the middle of the arena.

At that exact moment Kadabra collapsed.

"All of the gym leader's Pokémon are unable to battle," the disembodied voice declared, "the victory goes to Joy of Pallet Town!"

A short time later Sabrina presented her with her badge.

"I believe you earned this, congratulations. A surprising, though well thought out battle strategy."

Joy smiled, then looked up at her newly evolved Pokémon.

"Nice going, Charizard."

The large dragon-like Pokémon, growled softly.


End file.
